Following her Boris paternity test joke Emily Thornberry becomes favourite to succeed Corbyn
She might be the one facing TMay at the next election
In the last few days there’s been a move to Emily Thornberry in the LAB leadership betting where she’s now favourite almost across the board.
This all started with the suggestion a few weeks that she had the backing of UNITE’s Len McCluskey to succeed Corbyn whenever that happens.
She then got a superb reception at last week’s Labour conference in Brighton (watch the video) particularly with her Brexit paternity joke about Boris. In a party that has never looked on female leadership contenders favourably Thornberry looks very established.
What is striking watching the clip is the totally different atmosphere that there was in Brighton compared with the Tories in Manchester.
Of course there is no vacancy but the fact that there is a capable McCluskey approved alternative in the wings puts her in a strong position. McCluskey has also indicated that Labour’s next leader should be a woman. Corbyn will be 73 in 2022 when the next general election will take place if this parliament runs its full course. My guess is that if there’s no earlier election he will have stood down before them.
Thornberry is the regular stand-in for Corbyn at PMQs and has put up some good performances. If she was leader now TMay would struggle even more at PMQs.
