If LAB had held Durham NW then Starmer’s task could have been more challenging
Pidcock surely would have put up a better fight than RLB
At 2:30 this afternoon the first stage of Labour’s election contest will be over. At the moment there are questions over whether Clive Lewis or Emily Thornberry will actually get to the magical 22. If they don’t then they are out.
A big feature of this first week has been the less than convincing campaign by RLB the favoured candidate of Corbyn and McDonnell. From her declaring that in her judgement Corbyn’s general election performance rated 10 out of 10 and some less than convincing TV interviews it is clear that she is finding the going hard, One wonders whether she would have been a contender if North West Durham had gone to differently.
During the general election campaign I was quite impressed by a couple of performances on TV by Laura Pidcock particularly on the day before the vote when she faced a fearsome grilling by Piers Morgan about the ad by former LAB figures saying Corbyn would be a disaster as PM.
It was widely suggested before the general election that she was a favourite of the leadership of course, any hope that she might compete fell apart when she failed to hold on to the seat join the collapse of Labour in the North and the loss of North West Durham.
I wonder whether RLB’s less than convincing campaign is down to the fact that she wasn’t fully prepared for it.