Who will be the next Labour Leader?

[Undesired Walrus]

After Brown loses the next election (yes, when, not if), who will be the next Labour Leader? Will the party take a swing to the far left like the Tories took a swing to the far right after their 97 loss (Hague, Duncan Smith)? I'm thinking Cruddas or Ed Miliband will be the far-left's choice.

Or will the party take a swing towards the Blairites once again, with David Miliband and Johnson heading up the party?

I really think it is a contest between Johnson and D.Miliband, but what do you think (Americans, please take part, we interfere in your politics too often. We don't want to feel left out)?

 

[Fiona]

Could. Not. Care. Less.

 

[Undesired Walrus]

Shame.

 

[Uzzy]

Cared enough to post.

Anyway, I think it'd depends on the size of the defeat. If it's small, the next leader will be David Miliband. Blarite Labour is a proven success, and a small defeat could be seen as just a lack of satisfaction in the current government, rather then a vote against Labour policies. I'd prefer it if Johnson became the Labour Leader though. David Miliband just seems like a young twit. A large defeat though? Left wingers take over for at least an election, though Cruddas won't necessarily became leader. I'd expect his faction, along with the trade unions, to have far more influence over the Labour party policy.

One factor might be any settlement of the West Lothian question/Scottish Independence. If Labour suddenly lost all its Scottish MP's in Westminster, that would undoubtedly change things. In that situation, I would expect to see Miliband and Johnson take over, with the left wing of the party marginalised.

 

[Jaggy Bunnet]

Defeat is likely to clear out a lot of the Blairite wing, leaving heartland, predominantly left wing MP's.

The party will also be broke and in desperate need of funding from the unions.

It's going left.

 

[commandlinegamer]

Mandelson.

 

[Undesired Walrus]

I'd prefer it if Johnson became the Labour Leader though. David Miliband just seems like a young twit.

D.Miliband is young, but I find that he is incredibly cerebral. I recently read some of his book and saw the Blairite policies shine through in a way Middle England could latch onto. Blair got Middle England, but I feel Miliband could get a more sustained grab. Perhaps he could milk the fact that he went to a state school.

He just needs to grow some balls and come off the fence.

 

[Undesired Walrus]

Mandelson.

If Straw manages to pass the constitutional ammendment before next year's defeat.

I'm consistently amazed how popular the Dark Lord is in Labour circles.

 

[Fiona]

Sorry. I did not mean to be rude. I have mentioned before that in my small circle most of us feel disenfranchised. We were labour voters, you see. Now some do not intend to vote: of the rest, even those who were party workers intend to vote SNP - and again this is not because of any real nationalist sentiment: we just don't see any alternative

 

[Undesired Walrus]

I understand how the Iraq War caused some massive disappointment (amongst myself), but New Labour works. The minimum wage, the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, all these things would not have happened without Labour.

There was no improvement in numeracy and literacy between 1948 and the 1994. Yet, in the three years after 1997, the proportion reaching the literacy standard went up from 63 % to 75 %.

Labour needs a change of direction, a return to the way it was from '97 to the truck blockade, but the early New Labour Government (despite the protests from within the left wing of the party) has been closer to Attlee's brilliant 45-51 Government than anything else since.

We need a new Attlee.

 

[Fiona]

I am glad you see it that way, UW. But I am afraid I could not disagree more

 

[Undesired Walrus]

Did you not take pride in the fact that the The Stephen Lawrence inquiry was set up? I think that was one of New Labour's greatest achievements. One of the greatest implementations of social justice the UK has seen.

 

[commandlinegamer]

Reg: All right ... all right ... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order ... what has New Labour done for us?

Xerxes: Brought war?

Reg: Oh shut up!

 

[geni]

Since none of the likely candidates have challanged Brown it would appear they are all fairly calculating. That being the case it may well be none of them if the election after next also looks unwinable.

 

[Baylor]

Could. Not. Care. Less.

You should care. At least the UK has a Labo(u)r party. No one represents the working class in the US. No one even wants to claim to represent the working class in the US.

 

[Fiona]

That is precisely the problem, UNLoVed Rebel. We don't have a Labour party any more either

 

[commandlinegamer]

Scotland does have (a) socialist party(ies), when it's (they're) not involved in internecine conflict about who visited the tanning salon and with whom.

Anyway my preferred choice for next Labour leader would be Caroline Flint.

 

[Fiona]

Yes we have some socialists, that is true. So independence first and then we may have a choice of some kind.

 

[SezMe]

That is precisely the problem, UNLoVed Rebel. We don't have a Labour party any more either

In the USA, this has happened because the unions have been so weakened and the Democrats have been bought, to a large extent, by business. Is that the same underlying dynamic on your side.

 

[Fiona]

Yes. We learned it from americans