Browsed by
Category: Labour leadership

Another reason to lay Andy Burnham

Another reason to lay Andy Burnham

and why Mark Drakeford might end up being the favourite to succeed Sir Keir Starmer Like Pip Moss, I’ve been laying Andy Burnham as next Labour leader for a while, I don’t think he’s as good as he thinks he is, which is a rarity for for an alumnus of the University of Cambridge. Looking at this YouGov poll from 2014 his accent might be a hindrance. If he is hoping his job might change his accent, the Mancunian accent…

Read More Read More

The only thing we have to Keir is Keir itself

The only thing we have to Keir is Keir itself

Sir Keir Starmer might be a symptom not a cause of a long term Labour malaise. Sir Keir Starmer attracts a lot of criticism for his failure to perform better against Boris Johnson, looking at the polling figures (both voting intention and leadership metrics) it appears at the next general election Sir Keir is set play the role of Khalid bin Barghash to Boris Johnson’s Harry Rawson. I have a bit of sympathy for Starmer, one because of the toxic…

Read More Read More

The Butler did it?

The Butler did it?

The Sunday Telegraph are reporting that Dawn Butler, a prominent Jeremy Corbyn ally, denied on Saturday she was preparing to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership, amid claims of a hard-Left plot to replace the Labour leader after the Batley and Spen by-election. Ms Butler, who was a frontbencher under Mr Corbyn, was seen in the West Yorkshire constituency with a camera crew last week, leading to speculation that she was putting together material for a leadership bid. Labour…

Read More Read More

The King of the North succeeding Starmer? More like The King of Wishful Thinking

The King of the North succeeding Starmer? More like The King of Wishful Thinking

At the time of writing Andy Burnham is the 4/1 favourite to succeed Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader, he clearly wants the job, last night in an interview with The Observer he said ‘Labour’s red wall seats would have been safer under me [Andy Burnham]’ and ‘he would run for the leadership again after the next general election if he had widespread support’. He’s clearly on manoeuvres but I think he’s someone you shouldn’t be backing but laying in…

Read More Read More

A reminder: Starmer needs a net gain of 124 seats at the next GE to win a majority

A reminder: Starmer needs a net gain of 124 seats at the next GE to win a majority

A reminder of the atrocious legacy Corbyn bequeathed Starmer & Labour Today is Sir Keir Starmer’s first anniversary as Labour leader and I thought it would be worth remembering the position Starmer inherited. Only three Leaders of the Opposition have made over 100 net gains at at next election, Attlee, Blair, and Cameron, so Starmer will be joining stellar company if he achieves it. My own opinion is that Labour probably needs to only make around 40 net gains from…

Read More Read More

The Prince of Wales of people’s hearts, in people’s hearts, and votes?

The Prince of Wales of people’s hearts, in people’s hearts, and votes?

Boris Johnson isn’t the only British politician experiencing a vaccine boost The voting intention section of the YouGov polling of Wales was quite disheartening for Labour. Regular readers of this website are aware that leader ratings and other related supplementaries are often better pointers of electoral outcomes than headline voting intention figures ergo there is a bit of hope for Labour. As we can see in the second tweet Mark Drakeford’s ratings show he is the first Welsh Prince of…

Read More Read More

At GE2019 LAB was led by a man who had negative ratings even amongst those who had voted for the party 2 years earlier

At GE2019 LAB was led by a man who had negative ratings even amongst those who had voted for the party 2 years earlier

How the opposition leader’s ratings collapsed in the final few days Yesterday I found myself looking back over some GE2019 polling and one of the remarkable things that I don’t think had been picked up at the time is in the panel above. These were YouGov’s last favourability ratings before the general election and as can be seen Corbyn was in negative territory almost across the board even amongst those who had voted for the party two and a half…

Read More Read More

Labour’s paths to victory: the choices of Sir Keir Starmer

Labour’s paths to victory: the choices of Sir Keir Starmer

The wheel turns.  In 2005, Labour won 355 seats, a majority of 64.  The Conservatives got just 198.  But last year, the Conservatives took 365 seats, a majority of 80, while Labour secured just 202.  The two elections as close to exact reverses of each other as you’ll ever get for the major parties. Labour would like to turn the tables again.  In order to do so, they’ll need to decide how this is achievable.  In essence, they have three…

Read More Read More