With Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decisive victory in the 2019 general election, the British Labour Party (the nearest equivalent to the U.S. Democratic Party) began a hunt for a new leader. Its former chief, Jeremy Corbyn, the out-and-proud socialist, was rejected by the electorate not only for his failure to offer Brexit as his main campaign pledge, but also for his radical-left leanings and seeming association with just about every anti-British terrorist group he could invite for tea.
Political betting has started in earnest to find the Great Left Hope, and sadly for a Parliament that relies on strong opposition to craft fair laws, the contenders for this position all seem to have a little too much baggage to make them viable party leaders.
As Labour Party members prepare to vote for who their next captain might be, the field of possible candidates just keeps expanding. This is, perhaps, helped along by non-Labour supporters paying a £3 ($4.50) membership fee with the sole aim of creating havoc and electing the worst possible contender.
Runners and Riders
In the spirit of fun and enlightenment, Liberty Nation presents a range of profiles of Labour leader wannabes.
Keir Starmer – 8/13
Starmer is a member of Parliament and barrister who was the shadow Brexit minister for Jeremy Corbyn. At 8/13, he is the clear favorite among bettors and is presently placing top in polling of Labour Party members. For a party that needs to come to terms with Brexit, he may not be the wisest choice. Since the historic 2016 vote, Starmer has been at the forefront of calling for a second referendum; a position many suggest caused Labour to suffer their worst election defeat in a generation.
Rebecca Long-Bailey – 4/1
Known to even her parliamentary colleagues as “Rebecca Wrong-Daily,” this shadow minister is regarded as the “natural successor” to Jeremy Corbyn – although many remain unclear as to whether this is meant as a compliment.
Long-Bailey has been through a rough patch recently after claiming that the “buying back” of key industries such as water to be put under her party’s nationalization scheme would not cost the taxpayer anything, despite costings that suggest this would run to the hundreds of billions. Added to this, her inability to understand or explain what the words “trend GDP” mean on multiple occasions, despite being Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, means she will likely not be considered a serious contender.
David Lammy – 100/1
Mr. Lammy has never met an issue he could not turn into a racial talking point. A graduate of Harvard Law School, one would expect him to be a man of talent and intelligence. However, numerous public gaffes and errors have made him a figure oft ridiculed in the British press.
His less-than-stellar celebrity appearance on U.K. quiz show Mastermind has haunted him since 2014 and shows no signs of disappearing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsR4Nx-ELgc
Just One Problem
The only real issue that the Labour Party faces in its long road back to becoming a functioning opposition is its attitude. This is a party that has spent three and a half years since the Brexit referendum ignoring voters' wishes in favor of celebrating the London-centric image that saw off so much of its traditional working-class support. Until the party realizes that Brexit is here to stay, and that they must have a leader who finally accepts that result, there is no future for the left wing of Britain.
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Read more from Mark Angelides.
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