With Starmer tanking and Farage in No 10 a possibility, we need a unifying figure who will wake the party from its slumber, not just a chum of the PM
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ngela Rayner has gone, and in the blink of an eye, before a timetable has been set, name after name has been bandied about for Labour’s putative deputy leadership election. Lucy Powell, Anneliese Dodds, Louise Haigh, Emily Thornberry, Dawn Butler, Clive Lewis – all have their supporters.
But hang on a minute – before we decide who, shouldn’t we be thinking about what? What is the role of a deputy leader of the Labour party, when Labour in government is so clearly lost, is tanking in the polls, and tens of thousands of members are walking away in bitter disappointment? When we are staring down the barrel of a Reform government and a Nigel Farage premiership?
Because this can’t be just about who leads, a parade of those who crave a top job for the sake of it, without taking the time to fathom why. This is about how we lead. As Labour’s National Executive Committee meets today to rush out the timetable to get what is, for it, an unwanted slice of democracy out of the way, what’s desperately needed is just a little time to pause and think about how the Labour party gets out of this existential mess. Indeed, it’s the moment to ask what political leadership means in the chaos, complexity and confusion of the 21st century.
