Who should be the next leader?

WestonDave

headachesrus wrote: »

I like Alan Johnson, he is from the real world, and I wonder whether any overtures have been made to the other Miliband to come home?

I think the Labour constitution requires the leader to be an MP so they'd have to engineer a by election to get the "right" Miliband in - which might be risky even in a safe seat if the electorate took that sort of engineering badly. (And in any event I suspect most of their safe seats have been loaded with people they don't want stepping down).

wymondham

Labour does not have anyone with enough charisma to be a leader.... they need to recruit people and fast track them!

Marktheshark

Farage threw the Teddy without doing his homework.
If they were to increase their vote in 2020 by the same percentage they did from 2010-2015, well you do the sums, they would be sitting on rather a lot of MP's .

Given Labour are totally unable to grasp why they got a kicking from their own voters UKIP are placed odds on favourite to be the opposition in 2015 had he not thrown the towel in.

Generali

ukcarper wrote: »

Jacqui Smith was Home Secretary

She lasted a little less than 2 years before being returned to the back benches. I admit, I was wrong. There has been at least one woman who briefly occupied a senior Government role on a permanent basis on the Labour side.

It's appalling really.

Wheezy_2

wymondham wrote: »

Labour does not have anyone with enough charisma to be a leader.... they need to recruit people and fast track them!

Agreed. There's just not much substance on the Labour front nor back bench nowadays..
It used to be so different...Charles Clarke, Alistair Darling, John Reid, Jack Straw, Robin Cook, David Blunkett, Alan Johnson....you may or may not agree with what they stood for, but at least they had some charisma and substance. Hard to see where an effective leader will emerge from in Labour's case.
Libdems, Norman Lamb would be a good choice IMO, but again, more a case of the better of a mediocre bunch.
UKIP, Farage will most probably be back.

Generali

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

Do you want Farage as a Conservative voter or because you think it would be in the interest of the UKIP?

I thought Farage was a breath of fresh air, honestly raising points and questions which other politicians wanted to skirt around.

That said, I did not think he acted with any dignity with regard to not gaining his seat or his step down.

To say your relieved to not be voted in, would not be a vote winner for me in the future.

I think Farage is a very good leader and certainly a very good speaker. I heard him interviewed on Radio 5 when I was in the UK a couple of years ago and he kinda had me convinced while I was listening. I snapped out of it soon enough.

As a speaker he reminds me a little of Ken Livingstone who is an excellent speaker. I would recommend anyone go to listen to him at the hustings.

I am probably (as usual) in a minority of one when I say that I think UKIP are more of a problem for Labour than the Tories. UKIP seem to appeal to the core Labour vote, the skilled working classes. If Labour lose Scotland to the SNP and chunks of England to UKIP then they may well go the way of the Liberals.

As it stands, any party standing that wants to beat the Tories needs to reconcile pretty hard left voters in Scotland and centrist voters in England. Of all the bigger parties in the UK, the Lib Dems are the only ones that have managed to marry both wings with any success. Perhaps it's their time.

headachesrus

I've always thought it a shame the PM can't choose people from other parties to consult. Best of all world's then.

antrobus

Marktheshark wrote: »

Farage threw the Teddy without doing his homework.....

Well, he did say before the election that he would stand down as leader if he wasn't returned to the Commons. I am disclined to knock a politician for keeping to their promises just this once.:)

Marktheshark wrote: »

...If they were to increase their vote in 2020 by the same percentage they did from 2010-2015, well you do the sums, they would be sitting on rather a lot of MP's ....

To win an election, the best thing to do is to ignore the national percentage vote, and go for the seats.

Marktheshark wrote: »

....Given Labour are totally unable to grasp why they got a kicking from their own voters UKIP are placed odds on favourite to be the opposition in 2015 had he not thrown the towel in.

Farage hasn't ruled out the possibility of standing as leader. HE could be back.

antrobus

Wheezy wrote: »

Agreed. There's just not much substance on the Labour front nor back bench nowadays..
It used to be so different...Charles Clarke, Alistair Darling, John Reid, Jack Straw, Robin Cook, David Blunkett, Alan Johnson...

Ah, all those casualties of the Great Blair-Brown Civil War ....:)

antrobus

Generali wrote: »

...I am probably (as usual) in a minority of one when I say that I think UKIP are more of a problem for Labour than the Tories. UKIP seem to appeal to the core Labour vote, the skilled working classes. If Labour lose Scotland to the SNP and chunks of England to UKIP then they may well go the way of the Liberals....

Oh, I don't know about that.

I've always thought that as Labour loses votes to UKIP, they run the risk that those voters will over time migrate to the Conservatives.