With Jeremy Corbyn standing down as leader by the end of March, the Labour leadership contest will soon be underway and there is a wide field of potential candidates who have either declared, or who are likely to. So far, likely contenders for the top job include Angela Rayner, Emily Thorberry, Keir Starmer, Yvetter Cooper, Lisa Nandy, Jess Philips and Becky Long-Bailey, with John McDonnell, Richard Burgon and Diane Abbott all ruling themselves out.
Labour lost so many working class northern Leave voting seats, the next leader has to be someone who can regain the trust of those voters, many of whom have been Labour voters all their lives. The next leader has to be northern, have working class roots, preferably female and someone who was not obsessively pro-remain. That rules out Lodonners and big remain advocates Emily Thornerry and Keir Starmer, middle class and big remain supporter Yvette Cooper, middle class Lisa Nandy and middle class Brummie Jess Philips, leaving only Angela Rayner and Becky Long-Bailey.
Angela Rayner was born in Stockport, Greater Manchester (northern box ticked) and left school at 16 having gained no qualifications after becoming pregnant. She went on to study part-time and qualified as a care worker (working class box ticked). Rayner was elected as a Unison rep in her workplace and went on to become convener of Unison North West, the most senior post in the region. In 2015, Rayner was elected as MP for Ashton-under-Lyme in Greater Manchester and was appointed as Shadow Education Secretary in 2016 by Jeremy Corbyn. She backed Andy Burhnam in the 2015 leadership election, but backed Jeremy Corbyn against challenger Owen Smith in 2016.
Rebecca Long-Bailey was born in Stretford Greater Manchester (northern box ticked) to Irish immigrant parents and her father was a docker and trade union rep. Long-Bailey began her own working life in a pawn shop, call centres, a furniture factory and postal delivery (working class box ticked) before studying to become a solicitor by studying politics and sociology at Manchester Met and then completing part-time law conversion and solicitors’ courses. In 2015, Long-Bailey was elected as MP for Salford and Eccles and was appointed Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 2016, then Shadow Business Secretary in 2017. She was one of the thirty-six MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn in the 2015 leadership election and also supported him. Long-Bailey also supported Jeremy Corbyn during the 2016 leadership elected.
There are two main reasons I am supporting Becky Long-Bailey over Angela Rayner for leader. The first is politics. Long-Bailey is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs, Rayner is not. Rayner describes herself as soft left and that is evidenced by her supporting Burnham over Corbyn in 2015. Although Rayner is very loyal to the leadership, she votes with the whip and backed Corbyn during the coup of 2016, that whip may moderate if she was leader herself. She’s soft left, as opposed to centrist, and she is clearly very loyal, so she should be in any Shadow Cabinet, preferably kept on in education. Long-Bailey is a safer bet in terms of her politics. The second reason is economics. I don’t think there is anyone of the potential contenders who is stronger on the economy than Long-Bailey, she’ll be able to run rings around Johnson at the dispatch box. The economy is also an issue that the public still don’t quite trust Labour on, so Long-Bailey is the perfect choice.
As for deputy, the field is less clear, so it is a bit of a waiting game. Whoever it is, they have to balance out a northern leader. If the leader is a woman, there is no necessity to have a female deputy, but there’s nothing wrong with two women at the top of the party either. The deputy should probably be southern, preferably a Londonner. Labour have built a solid base in London and that should not be taken for granted, just as Labour had taken the north for granted. The deputy leader should be someone who can help unify the party and isn’t someone like Tom Watson who undermined the leadership at every opportunity. They don’t necessarily need to be someone on the left of the party, but it does need to be someone who is a team player.
