More men have walked on the moon than been Labour Prime Minister

It’s not too much of an overstatement to say that the Labour Party is facing an existential crisis. Last week they lost their fourth election in a row and suffered their worst electoral

defeat since 1935. Their ‘Red Wall’ of seats in the Midlands, the North and Wales has crumbled. They are all but non-existent in Scotland, the country of their founder, Keir Hardie, and

their first and most recent prime ministers. As suicide notes go, 1983 was not that long after all.

While Corbyn is remaining in place as caretaker leader until next Spring, several prominent MPs have announced their candidacy for the leadership, including Keir Starmer, Clive Lewis, Emily

Thornberry and Rebecca Long-Bailey, with Angela Rayner her running mate. But as the party grandee Pat McFadden put it this week, what’s important is not just who replaces Corbyn but what.

With that in mind, here are some rough sketches on the qualities and values that the new Labour leadership should embrace:

To be sure, Labour can take courage from the fact that Boris is not exactly a popular leader himself. He was lent support in the recent election by frustrated voters who felt they had little

choice. If Labour gets on board with Brexit and gets its choice of new leader right, they might well be back in the game. Then again, they must never forget that they have no divine right

to exist: the Whigs and Liberals came and went before them, and the Brexit/Reform Party is waiting in the wings today.

By proceeding, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and our Privacy Policy.

If an account exists for this email address, you will shortly receive an email from us. You will then need to:

Please note, this link will only be valid for 24 hours. If you do not receive our email, please check your Junk Mail folder and add [email protected] to your safe list.