CANDIDATE'S REACTIONS

Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner have released video messages in response to their victories.  Keir Starmer was first up, releasing his before the official result had even become known.  This was a pre-recorded video due to the cancellation of the big unveiling.  Instead, the results were announced via email and the party's website, except the website crashed at around the time the announcement was due.

Sir Squeaky rattled on for more than eight minutes, mostly about coronavirus.  His leadership will surely provide great medicinal relief to insomniacs everywhere.

Keir Starmer (8min 39sec)

The new deputy leader was next up, speaking into her mobile phone.  Whereas Starmer comes across as slick and professional (albeit painfully dull), Angela Rayner's acceptance speech reveals the stark contrast between the two.  Her video is two minutes of blurry slurry cringe.

Angela Rayner (1min 52sec)

At the time of writing the only other candidate to release a personal video message has been deputy leadership candidate Richard Burgon.  As bubbly as ever, the grinning idiot was gracious in defeat and for once he avoided the socialist claptrap that had epitomized his comical campaign.  If Starmer has any sense he will send bungling Burgon packing to the backbenches.  Let's hope he doesn't.

Richard Burgon (1min 14sec)

Fourth placed deputy leadership candidate Ian Murray released a cheesy compilation video with captions, but he did not appear in it.  Rosena Allin-Khan, who finished second in the final round of the deputy contest, was very busy on Twitter today thanking her supporters in various tweets.  Lisa Nandy, who predictably picked up the wooden spoon in the main contest, tweeted a statement congratulating Starmer and Rayner.  She released her own thank you video two days ago after voting had ended.  Nandy will surely play a key role in Starmer's shadow cabinet.  Asides from her disastrous trans clash with Piers Morgan, she was easily the most consistent candidate during the campaign.

Heartfelt congratulations to @Keir_Starmer and @AngelaRayner. We will move forward together pic.twitter.com/zzfixL6s6H

— Lisa Nandy (@lisanandy) April 4, 2020

Rebecca Long-Bailey released a lengthy statement on her Facebook page minutes after the result was announced.  She screencapped the message and added it to a tweet a short time later (see below).  In the end Becky simply failed to inspire the membership in the same way that Corbyn did so decisively in both 2015 and 2016.  Her failure will undoubtedly lead to a period of hibernation for the hard left, but they will never go away entirely and nor will they relinquish their grip on the party easily.  Tough times are ahead for Starmer.

To those who supported our campaign, thank you for putting for your faith in me 🌹 pic.twitter.com/lNhkZ06QoF

— Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey) April 4, 2020

Dawn Butler, who finished last in the deputy contest, had nothing to say.  Nothing at all.

LEADERSHIP RESULTS

Labour Leadership Election

First Round

Keir Starmer 275,780 (56.2%) - ELECTED

Rebecca Long-Bailey 135,218 (27.6%)

Lisa Nandy 79,597 (16.2%)

Deputy Leadership Election

First Round

Angela Rayner 192,168 (41.7%)
Richard Burgon 80,053 (17.3%)
Rosena Allin-Khan 77,351 (16.8%)
Ian Murray 61,179 (13.3%)
Dawn Butler 50,255 (10.9%) - ELIMINATED

Second Round

Angela Rayner 209,698 (46.5%)
Richard Burgon 88,664 (19.7%)
Rosena Allin-Khan 88,049 (19.5%)
Ian Murray 64,560 (14.3%) - ELIMINATED

Third Round

Angela Rayner 228,944 (52.6%) - ELECTED
Rosena Allin-Khan 113,858 (26.1%)
Richard Burgon 92,643 (21.3%)

DODGY DUDLEY VOTE ANNULLED

Labour has nullified the leadership and deputy leadership nominations from the Dudley North Constituency Labour Party.  The CLP met on February 7th to cast votes for its preferred candidates, but the meeting was mired in controversy.  More than twenty party members were told they couldn't vote, but were not given any reason.  Some were refused entry, while others were not.  Some members received invites to the meeting, others did not.  Crucially, in the final vote there were 96 votes cast, but reportedly only 90 eligible voters!

A lengthy and detailed complaint from local party member Abid Hussain was sent to Labour's regional office, leading to an investigation (see letter below, click to enlarge).

Hussain laid much of the blame on Cllr Shaukat Ali who was chairing the meeting.  Cllr Ali chaired the proceedings despite being a candidate in another vote held that evening, for a BAME vacancy on Labour's National Executive Council.  He was up against another candidate, but Mr Hussain claims that when the vote was announced the other candidate's name was mumbled.  This led to confusion with some members under the impression that only Cllr Ali was standing.

One wonders how many shambolic and clearly fixed votes are carried out in this way in CLPs up and down the country.  It certainly doesn't bode well for the leadership election results being announced next month.  With the hard left candidates struggling it appears that the only way they could win is via a huge fraud, but would the party dare?  Wouldn't it be too obvious?  Time will tell, and the party has certainly had plenty of time (three months and counting).

Incidentally, the two candidates nominated by Dudley North were Rebecca Long-Bailey and Richard Burgon.  Funny that.  The cancelled nominations will not affect their eligibility to stand as they had more than enough nominations to qualify for the ballot.  It does beg the question - why go to such lengths to ensure both were nominated when both had already qualified by the time Dudley North voted?  And finally, why has the party confirmed that no further action will be taken?

The nullified vote does not affect the eligibility of either candidate

BIZARRE HUSTINGS MOMENT

There was a bizarre moment at yesterday's deputy leadership hustings when one of the candidates suddenly burst into song.  Rosena Allin-Khan was told she still had 25 seconds to spare in order to answer a question and decided to fill in the time by belting out the opening verse of Cher's If I Could Turn Back Time, much to the amusement of Dawn Butler.  To be fair, she's got a cracking voice - watch below.

The latest leadership hustings were held in Brighton at the Grand Hotel.  The party held its 2019 conference at the same venue, although it is better known for a Conservative party conference.  In 1984 the IRA bombed the hotel during the Tory conference in an attempt to wipe out the government, killing five people.  Two weeks after the atrocity backbench MP Jeremy Corbyn invited two IRA members to Parliament and in 1986 he was arrested outside the Old Bailey during a protest in support of the Brighton bomber Patrick Magee.  Last year Corbyn chose to launch the party's manifesto in Birmingham on the 45th anniversary of the Birmingham pub bombings.  There is no shame in this party.

SURVATION BLOW TO LEFT

Pollsters Survation have dealt a blow to the hard left with a new opinion poll for the Labour leadership.  Survation's first poll in mid-January gave Rebecca Long-Bailey a narrow lead over Keir Starmer, but their latest poll gives Starmer an eleven-point lead.  His lead is precisely half the margin shown in YouGov's most recent poll, but both polls are very close when it comes to the second round.  YouGov calls it 66-34 while Survation calls 64-36.

Survation leadership poll (21-24 Feb)

First round

Starmer 45%

Long-Bailey 34%

Nandy 21% (eliminated)

Second round

Starmer 64%

Long-Bailey 36%

(sample size 1,196)

With Richard Burgon miles behind in the deputy leadership race it appears there will be no continuity Corbyn candidates at the helm after the results are announced in five weeks time.  Jeremy Corbyn's decision to come off the fence and demand that Keir Starmer publishes details of his donors shows that desperation and realisation is beginning to sink in.  The loony left are making good capital over Starmer's refusal to publish the details and will naturally jump to all sorts of conclusions and conspiracy theories.

So far the above tweet has got eight retweets.  Long live the revolution!

RAYNER IN THE SECOND?

In addition to its leadership poll YouGov also conducted a poll for the deputy leadership.  Rather unsurprisingly Angela Rayner was miles in front, but unlike Starmer they don't expect her to win outright.  They predict a narrow victory in the second round, after Ian Murray is eliminated in round one.  Hard left candidate Richard Burgon is expected to come a distant second.  Presumably he'll claim that it was a victory and his policies were 'popular'!

FAR LEFT RATTLED

With Keir Starmer odds on leadership favourite, no sign of a surge for continuity Corbyn and voting set to open on Friday, the far left have organised a rally in London next week.  The imaginatively titled 'Rally for Socialism' will feature the headline speakers of McDonnell, Abbott, Burgon and Lavery.  What a line-up!  If this is the best they've got to offer no wonder the Tories are laughing.

Guest speakers include four of the new intake of hard left Corbynista MPs - all of which are backing Long-Bailey and Burgon in the leadership contests, naturally.  Sadly for Leicester East's MP, whoever designed the poster spelled her name wrong.  It's Webbe, not Webb.  More special guests are to be confirmed, presumably they are waiting to see if Billy Bragg can make it across from his lush Dorset pad.  It's free entry, but comrades are urged to make a £20 donation.  Does it go towards Dickie Burgon's leaflet fund?

COCKY DICKIE DEMANDS AIRTIME

Richard Burgon is full of beans at the moment and getting a wee bit carried away with himself.  It sounds like he's immersed himself in the same Twitter bubble that convinced Corbynistas they were going to win the election.  Remember that Burgon only just scraped into the second stage of the nomination process achieving the bare minimum 22 nominations from MPs.  He did much better in the next stage and his fat head has grown bigger by the day.  He not only wants to maintain Corbyn's hard left policies, but wants them written into the party constitution and has a few daft ideas of his own.  He followed up his laughable 'peace pledge' by calling for his idol Corbyn to be given a front bench position after the leadership election is finally over.  It's no wonder Momentum is backing Burgon.

Now our Dickie is demanding that TV bosses arrange a deputy leadership debate.  The problem is that most viewers are not fussed about the main leadership debates, never mind who takes over as deputy - a largely symbolic role that has little relevance or political clout anyway.  Can anyone recall a single thing that Tom Watson achieved in his role as deputy, other than to chase imaginary paedophile rings, call for a 'people's vote' and generally make things difficult for his leader?  Still, Dickie's undeterred in his quest for power, and airtime.  He's written an open letter to the "heads of political programming" - because he couldn't be bothered to look up their names - and has told them that his "bold socialist vision" will be backed by "wider society".  Is that the same society that decisively rejected socialism on December the 12th?  No matter ye cynics, for Burgon has warned broadcasters that such ideas should not be "effectively silenced"...

Click to enlarge

Lovely letterhead there, but don't you think 'Dickie for deputy' has a better ring to it?

BURGON THE (£79k) BEGGAR

An MP draws a £79,468 salary (not including the famously generous expenses).  This basic salary will rise to £81,931 in April.  Yet here is Dickie Burgon asking his supporters to "chip in" to raise a paltry £400 to pay for his campaign leaflets - a sum of money he earns in just two days.  While it's fair to say that in modern metropolitan middle class Labour many of his supporters will be on a similar wage to him, but of course many will not.  Shameless.

PHASE TWO NOMINATIONS FINAL STANDINGS

Phase two of one of the longest elections in history is over.  The epic saga that is the Labour leadership and deputy leadership election process is now entering the endgame - the actual end is still seven weeks away - but you catch the drift.  The ballots are now being prepared for voting - this will take a week (no joke) before voting can actually begin.  Yes, yes, it's hilarious.

Anyway, the nominations are all in for the two contests and the headline is that Lady Nugee is OUT.  She fell two short at the death and the leadership will be fought between three candidates.  The deputy leadership will be contested between five candidates.  Starmer and Rayner each received more than half of the CLP nominations up for grabs, hence they're the clear favourites.  Corbyn, McCluskey, Momentum and co won't be impressed by that, but how desperate are they to cling on?  We'll find out soon enough, well in seven weeks anyway!

These are the final standings for phase two (CLP and affiliate nominations).  All but Thornberry process to the final ballot.

Leadership election

Keir Starmer: 373 CLPs + 15 affiliates (qualified 20.01.20)
Lisa Nandy: 72 CLPs + 4 affiliates (qualified 22.01.20)
Rebecca Long-Bailey: 164 CLPs + 7 affiliates (qualified 29.01.20)

Emily Thornberry: 31 CLPs + 0 affiliates (eliminated)

Deputy leadership election

Angela Rayner: 355 CLPs + 10 affiliates (qualified 20.01.20)
Richard Burgon: 76 CLPs + 5 affiliates (qualified 29.01.20)
Dawn Butler: 82 CLPs + 3 affiliates (qualified 02.02.20)
Ian Murray: 59 CLPs + 3 affiliates (qualified 07.02.20)
Rosena Allin-Khan: 56 CLPs + 3 affiliates (qualified 08.02.20)

'AMAZING SOCIALISTS' BACK BURGON

Daft Dickie Burgon

Among the candidates for Labour's deputy leader, hard left balloon head Richard Burgon gets most of the headlines.  While the favourite Angela Rayner keeps her head down and keeps it simple, he embarks on a weekly outpouring of crazed bullshit, designed to appeal to hard left post-2015 Corbynista entryists.  Many will back him on the ballot as he represents continuity of the woefully unelectable communist mantra of Corbynism.  We are talking about the same deluded individuals who couldn't comprehend that the party's only chance of entering government was via a hung Parliament and an SNP coalition - no, they thought Labour could actually win the election outright.  Daft Dickie Burgon is the ideal candidate to represent them, in fact it's a shame he didn't go for the top job in place of Wrong-Daily.

Just look at the "amazing socialists" he is proud to name among his supporters.

"Amazing socialists"

Amazing in what respect Dickie?  At losing?  Laura Pidcock, the famed 'future leader', couldn't defend a near 9,000 majority at the last election and handed her seat to a Conservative for the first time in its 69 year history.  Amazing!  Dennis Skinner, aka the Barnacle, was desperate to leave the Commons in a coffin, but took his constituents for granted for too long and sought re-election one time too many.  His majority had been shrinking for over twenty years and, like Laura, his seat is now blue for the first time in history.  Amazing!  John McDonnell, the self-confessed Marxist nicknamed the Quartermaster over his IRA links, was thought by many to be the real power behind the rise of Corbyn.  A real nasty piece of work whose world fell apart on election night as it became clear his dream of overseeing the destruction of Great Britain was in tatters and his own election count fell into anarchy as he was repeatedly heckled before fighting broke out.  Amazing!  Then there's Diane.  What else can be said about this halfwit who was such a liability she was told to disappear from the election campaign, reappearing on polling day wearing two left shoes!  Amazing!!

We can only hope that the living dead of the left still outnumber the living on Labour's membership list and slavishly deliver the dream duo of Wrong-Daily and bungling Burgon.  Do it!

COUNCILLORS QUITS UNITE

Unite's decision to back continuity Corbyn candidates for Labour's leadership roles hasn't gone down too well in some circles.  Two councillors in Tameside, Greater Manchester , announced their decisions to quit the union in protest.  Cllr George Newton and Cllr Jack Naylor were particularly upset at the endorsement of braindead Corbyn loyalist Richard Burgon.

Naylor indicated he was joining the GMB, a union backing Lisa Nandy for the leadership.

One wonders how many more Unite members will have cancelled their subs over this slavish endorsement of the far left.

LEADERSHIP HUSTINGS - LEEDS

The second Labour leadership hustings was originally due to take place in Durham.  Following internal uproar over the snub to Yorkshire, the hustings schedule was shaken up and the roadshow instead rolled into Leeds on Saturday.  Well, the deputy leadership did - the main event was cancelled after-all.  With Keir Starmer having suspended his campaign due to a family emergency, the main leadership husting was cancelled.  The deputy leadership husting went ahead as planned.

If you're struggling to figure out which one - if any - of the four remaining leadership contenders might pose a threat to Boris, spare a thought for the party members who attended this pathetic display.  The depths to which the modern party has sunk has surely never been laid so bare than it has with this desperate bunch of individuals parading in front of the faithful.

In the absence of the main hustings this was everybody's opportunity to play to a much bigger audience.  Angela Rayner - favourite and currently only candidate through the ballot - was incredibly cocky about her place in the final stage.  It's hard to believe that she stood aside for her pal Long-Bailey as she is not deputy material, let alone worthy of leadership.

Ian Murray continued to capitalise on the fact he's the only Scottish voice, both in the leadership elections and the Parliamentary party.  As the incredibly long campaign drags on, this will grind very quickly.  Probably the biggest winner on the day was the least known candidate - Rosena Allin-Khan.  The best of a bad bunch, she put the home candidate to shame.  Leeds boy Richard Burgon could have appealed to the wider membership and deliver a message of unity, but in keeping with his braindead philosophy he played to the hard left bubble.

The cringeworthy Dawn Butler is very much the 'Emily Thornberry' of the deputy campaign, albeit even more incompetent if that is even possible.  At one point she embarked on a rant about the MPs who tried to oust Corbyn in 2016, reeled off how loyal she had been to Corbyn and finished off by referencing Wes Streeting's earlier criticism.  She looked to Burgon as she did so, but what followed was a bitter spat in which Dickie lashed out at Dawn insisting he was the only candidate on the podium who could claim undying loyalty to Corbyn.  That Corbyn had just overseen such a diabolical election result and two candidates were arguing over loyalty points to a complete loser says everything about this party right now.

The Butler-Burgon spat is around 35 minutes in...

Revised leadership hustings schedule

Sat 1 Feb - Bristol
Sun 2 Feb - Cardiff
Sat 8 Feb - Nottingham
Sun 9 Feb - Dudley
Sat 15 Feb - Glasgow
Sun 16 Feb - London
Sat 22 Feb - Bedford
Sun 23 Feb - Durham
Sat 29 Feb - Brighton

Whoever is organising these dates desperately needs a map of the UK.  Glasgow and London in the same weekend?  Bedford and Durham?  Shambles.

'RULE OUT' BURGON & BUTLER

Wes Streeting

Labour moderate Wes Streeting has told LBC's Andrew Castle that Richard Burgon and Dawn Butler should be ejected from the deputy leadership contest.  Referring to their refusal to sign a pledge to stamp out anti-Semitism, the Ilford North MP told Castle:  "Both Richard Burgon and Dawn Butler - ironically, the shadow's equalities secretary - they haven't signed those pledges and I think that's just absolutely appalling.  It should just rule them out of the race altogether as it says we know best and we're still not listening".  All leadership candidates in both contests have signed the pledge, with the exception of Burgon and Butler.

UNITE FOR THE PREDICTABLE

Unite's Len McCluskey consistently warned against media speculation over who the union would back for the Labour leadership.  Any suggestion that the union would slavishly endorse the hard left continuity Corbyn candidate was met with a 'wait and see' response.  After-all, no decision had been made...

So imagine our surprise when on Friday it was announced that Unite had not only backed Rebecca Long-Bailey, they'd backed hard left balloon head Richard Burgon for the deputy's job!

“@RLong_Bailey has the brains and the brilliance to beat Boris Johnson. She is standing for unity, socialism and the determination to make Johnson's term in office short-lived.” https://t.co/CThhmq8CPL #RLB4Leader pic.twitter.com/A6OLoXUSbg

— Unite the union (@unitetheunion) January 24, 2020

“Unite is confident that @RichardBurgon will make a superb deputy to Becky, displaying the qualities that have long been absent from that post - pride in our values, a passion for our party to succeed &, above all, loyalty to their leader.” https://t.co/EWTFgrjm8V #Richard4Deputy pic.twitter.com/cG0QKaVkXT

— Unite the union (@unitetheunion) January 24, 2020

Continuity is key.  Socialism is paramount.  Dedication to losers?  Well, naturally.

NANDY... FOR THE IRON THRONE?

The GMB trades union has endorsed Lisa Nandy and Angela Rayner for the Labour leadership and deputy roles.  Rayner has already qualified for the deputy ballot, but the endorsement is crucial for Nandy as she now only requires one more affiliate nomination to qualify for the leadership ballot.  Embarrassingly for the left, she could get there before Long-Bailey.

BREAKING: GMB is nominating Lisa Nandy for Labour Leader and Angela Rayner for Deputy Leader.

SHARE THE NEWS 👇 https://t.co/qdUt8VNO3c

— GMB UNION (@GMB_union) January 21, 2020

In a bizarre move the union followed up their announcement by mocking up pictures of both Nandy and Rayner as characters from Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games.  The third largest trades union in the UK?  Embarrassing...

LEADERSHIP HUSTINGS - LIVERPOOL

The first Labour leadership hustings has taken place in Liverpool and the party kindly streamed both debates live on YouTube.  Jess Phillips was the big loser in the main event, appearing to have turned up completely unprepared and delivering a cringeworthy performance.  She "couldn't hack the spotlight" was how one viewer put it, while another said she was in a "zone beyond hopeless".  Nerves certainly got the better of her.

There was no clear winner, although most commentators agreed that Long-Bailey and (surprisingly) Lady Nugee stood out from the rest.  After a strong start to her campaign it was a rather average showing from Nandy and Sir Keir was his usual wooden self.  Watch below - if you can stomach it.

Labour Leadership Hustings - Liverpool 18.01.20

Deputy Leadership Hustings

PIDCOCK'S SWIFT RETURN

Keith Vaz isn't the only ousted MP making a swift return to politics this week.  Former Labour MP Laura Pidcock has been appointed by her pal Richard Burgon to run his campaign for deputy leader.

I’m delighted to announce that the Chair of the #Richard4Deputy campaign is the inspirational @LauraPidcock.

Laura is one of my closest friends but more importantly we share a passionate commitment to a campaigning, socialist and democratic Labour Party. pic.twitter.com/OdfX8ieimK

— Richard Burgon MP (@RichardBurgon) January 16, 2020

Pidcock was earmarked as a 'future Labour leader' by her hard left admirers, but last month saw her 8,792 majority evaporate.  She spent little more than two years on the Westminster gravy train before her Leave-voting constituents kicked her out and turned North West Durham blue for the first time in its 134 year history.  Totally out of her depth and completely discredited she will be right at home in daft Dickie Burgon's camp.

North West Durham 2019 general election

Richard Holden (Con) 19,990 (41.9%) +7.5%
Laura Pidcock (Lab) 18,846 (39.5%) -13.3%
John Wolstenholme (Brexit) 3,193 (6.7%) New
Michael Peacock (Lib Dem) 2,831 (5.9%) -1.2%
Watts Stelling (Ind) 1,216 (2.6%) New
David Sewell (Green) 1,173 (2.5%) +1.4%
David Lindsay (Ind) 414 (0.9%) New

In other news Momentum have now officially endorsed Rebecca Long-Bailey and Angela Rayner.  This comes as no surprise considering they were the only names on the online ballot of members!

FINAL STANDINGS (ROUND ONE)

On nomination deadline day Emily Thornberry and Richard Burgon breathed a collective sigh of relief as they limped over the threshold with minutes to spare.  There was probably an element of surprise for Lady Nugee as she still required nine nominations with an hour to go and was made to sweat in the last few minutes as she reached the lofty heights of 21, still one short.  Two last minute backers meant she ended on the same as Jess Phillips and all five proceed to the next round (Clive Lewis withdrew from the contest 35 minutes before the close of nominations.

Richard Burgon started the day in last place in the race for deputy leader.  However, he hilariously tweeted that he would happily stop campaigning for nominations if he reached the magic number of 22 and would instead ask MPs to nominate lesser candidates ie. Dawn Butler and Rosena Allin-Khan.  As it happened they didn't need his 'assistance' as both reached the target hours before he did.  Tit.  With Burgon securing the bare minimum of 22 nominations the hard left ensured they have a candidate in each contest progressing to the next round.

Leadership election

Keir Starmer - 89 nominations
Rebecca Long-Bailey - 33
Lisa Nandy - 31
Jess Phillips - 23
Emily Thornberry - 23

Clive Lewis - 5 (withdrew)

Deputy leadership election

Angela Rayner - 88
Ian Murray - 34
Dawn Butler - 29
Rosena Allin-Khan - 23
Richard Burgon - 22

DEPUTY LEADERSHIP RUNNERS

If you thought some of those running for the party leadership were obscure, take a look at the six MPs bidding to succeed Tom Watson as deputy leader...

Rosena Allin-Khan

Born:  London, 1977
MP for Tooting since 2016 by-election

Current nominations:  3

Verdict:  Unlikely to gather the required 22 nominations to proceed

Richard Burgon

Born:  Leeds, 1980
MP for Leeds East since 2015

Current nominations:  8

Verdict:  Will be the favoured candidate of the hard left and could spring a surprise

Dawn Butler

Born:  London, 1969
MP for Brent Central since 2015, also Brent South (2005-10)

Current nominations:  4

Verdict:  May struggle to gather the required nominations, but won't pose a threat if she does get on the ballot paper

Khalid Mahmood

Born:  Pakistan, 1961
MP for Birmingham Perry Barr since 2001

Current nominations:  1

Verdict:  Won't gather enough nominations to proceed

Ian Murray

Born:  Edinburgh, 1976
MP for Edinburgh South since 2010

Current nominations:  6

Verdict:  Vehement Corbyn critic, but as Labour's only Scotland MP he could gather plenty of PLP nominations north of the border - if he can get past this first stage.  Third place behind Rayner and Burgon.

Angela Rayner

Born:  Stockport, 1980
MP for Ashton-under-Lyne since 2015

Current nominations:  30

Verdict:  Has already surpassed the required nominations to proceed to the next stage and will be the clear favourite.  Unison has already backed her, opting for a Starmer/Rayner leadership.  Rayner herself is backing her pal Long-Bailey for the top job.