The main candidates to replace Ed Miliband and my
extremely unbiased assessment of their strengths and weaknesses.
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| Yvette Cooper |
Possibly the most boring on-the-record speaker in the entire Labour Party. No voter has ever managed to stay awake during the entirety of an Yvette Cooper speech. Not a time to go for the soporific strategy, comrades.
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| Andy Burnham |
Being the political wing of UNITE is a
serious strategy for a future Labour victory. Right, Andy?
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| Chuka Umunna |
Smart, well-connected and telegenic, this former lawyer may be the most irritating of the crop. I won't mention smug, vain and prone to flaunting an assumed intellectual superiority he does not in fact possess. Appeals to the Hampstead crowd and perhaps, in an Obama-esque fashion, to ethnic communities with whom he culturally and materially shares very little.
Update [Friday May 15th 2015]. Umunna has now withdrawn in murky circumstances.
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| Rachel Reeves |
One of the better ones, handicapped by low recognition outside the bubble.
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| Dan Jarvis |
Good CV, allegedly. Apart from that, no-one outside the bubble has ever heard of Dan Jarvis, and few within. Update: just heard he's already withdrawn.
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| Tristram Hunt |
Why would this disingenuous posh boy even think of leading the worker's party? Way too pleased with himself.
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| Liz Kendall |
A senior manager once asked his team: "If this guy is as good as you say, why haven't I seen more of him?" Having said that, she
is probably one of the good guys here.
--
Since we don't know the mission, choosing the mission leader is a little fraught. Should be a fun few months.
