A couple of days ago John McDonnell
stated that he and Corbyn would stand down were Labour to lose the next election. However, on Sophy Ridge's show this morning Corbyn himself was somewhat evasive when she put it to him...
While the opinion polls suggest another Labour defeat is on the cards, a lot can and will happen between now and then. Britain's failure to Leave the EU at the end of this month could open the door for him and a coalition ally, namely the SNP. This is precisely why Labour refused to hold an election sooner rather than later, hoping to capitalise on discontent among voters, either with another Brexit delay or the fallout of a no deal exit.
However, the vultures are already beginning to smell blood. Yesterday the hideous narcissist Jess Phillips threw her hat in the
ring for a leadership election. A wee bit premature Jess, but if an election is to be held next month and Labour are beaten, there could be a new leader in place by the spring - if Corbyn stands down that is. No-one is taking Phillips seriously, despite McDonnell's assessment that the next leader should be a woman. There are plenty of other potential female candidates and in any case the next leader will almost certainly come from the hard left. Corbyn and McDonnell haven't spent the last three years slowly purging the party of moderates only to surrender it back to the 'Blairite scum'.
It's highly likely that in any leadership contest there would be a 'continuity Corbyn' candidate that would romp to victory on the back of what is now an overwhelmingly hard left membership. One potential name who fits that bill, and is also a woman, is Laura Pidcock. She only has two year's Parliamentary experience and is only 32, but she is constantly touted as a 'future leader' and would be unencumbered by the historical scandals that have dogged the leadership of Corbyn. Definitely one to watch, as is Rebecca Long-Bailey. She is not seen as hard left as Pidcock, but has consistently backed Corbyn throughout his leadership and has three year's front bench experience.
The only other hard left name in the frame is Clive Lewis, but Corbynistas will not have forgotten or forgiven his rumoured plotting against Corbyn's leadership two years ago (
supported by no less than two-faced turncoat Owen Jones). The current bookies favourite to succeed Corbyn is the painfully dull Keir Starmer, but he is neither hard left or Corbynista. He is, of course, a hardcore Remainer, but then so are most of the other potential runners. So let's look at how the bookies currently see the field...
4/1 - Keir Starmer (Holborn & St Pancras since 2015)
6/1 - Rebecca Long-Bailey (Salford & Eccles since 2015)
10/1 - Emily Thornberry (Islington South & Finsbury since 2004)
11/1 - Angela Rayner (Ashton-under-Lyne since 2015)
12/1 - Laura Pidcock (North West Durham since 2017)
16/1 - Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract & Castleford since 1997)
18/1 - Clive Lewis (Norwich South since 2015)
25/1 - Tom Watson (West Bromwich East since 2001)
33/1 - Lisa Nandy (Wigan since 2010)
50/1 - Dawn Butler (Brent Central since 2017)
66/1 - Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South since 2011), Hilary Benn (Leeds Central since 1999), Jess Phillips (Birmingham Yardley since 2015)
