EU referendum aftermath

[Mick Norris]

I hope so

I think the key question is what is needed to get Jeremy in the contest - Kinnock v Benn is the only precedent of a challenge to a sitting Labour leader I am told, and Neil had to get enough PLP support to stand then, depends on how you interpret the rules I guess

[E Michael White]

Some Guardian article about people apparently trying to work out how Scotland might manage to stay in the EU and the UK at once, even with an English Brexit.

Might be useful to the rest of the UK if Scotland remains in the EU. Companies with registered offices in Scotland or subsidiaries there might be able to trade with continental EU more easily !

[Nick Burrows]

Labours "legal team" have confirmed that as leader he goes automatically onto the ballot.

The 2015 election the votes counted were:

Corbyn - 251,000
Burnham 80,000
Cooper 72,000
Kendall 19,000

Corbyn just had a petition in support of him with over 200,000 signatures. More than the other 3 won combined in 2015. Place your bets now

[Matt Mackenzie]

Anecdotal evidence suggests Corbyn has lost some support in the past week.

He's not invulnerable IMO against a decent opponent......

[NickFaulks]

Place your bets now

Not sure how to do that. The betting is on "next Labour leader", so Corbyn is not a runner. Also, Watson with a quick handover to Angela Eagle is definitely on.

[Sean Hewitt]

Assuming of course that Corbyn can even get on the ballot. There appears to be contrary legal opinion on that score.

[MartinCarpenter]

Given the demographical overlap between his supporters, remain supporters and his conduct during the referendum you'd imagine he'd have lost a chunk of support. Not sure how logical any of this is of course!

What is certainly true is that with 80% of the parliamentary party having no confidence in him he simply can't operate as leader in any meaningful sense. Goodness knows what happens if he does get voted back in.

[Nick Burrows]

and his conduct during the referendum

What was his conduct? This sounds like a parroting of the PLP's criticism of him. He gave several speeches around the country - all ignored by the media due to the 'blue on blue' and Farage circus show.
Rather than the hyperbole and childishly exaggerated claims of the main remain campaign he truthfully admitted reservations about the EU, but on balance wanted to remain. Much like my own, and many voters positions.
Most importantly 63% of Labour supporters voted remain. Clearly the leave outcome was Corbyn's fault!

What is certainly true is that with 80% of the parliamentary party having no confidence in him he simply can't operate as leader in any meaningful sense. Goodness knows what happens if he does get voted back in.

One interesting possibility being suggested is that Corbyn will stand on a policy of mandatory reselection of MPs. Then the Clp's can boot out the treacherous Blairites and build a more unified PLP.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Given ... his conduct during the referendum you'd imagine he'd have lost a chunk of support.

Logical or otherwise, I’m not convinced that any of this Corbyn stuff has anything to do with the referendum. I am very far from being a labour insider, I don’t have any connection with the party at all, but somebody with access to reliable information told me 2-3 months ago that there would be a move to challenge Corbyn later in the year during which Labour MPs would seek to keep him off the ballot.

[MartinCarpenter]

Maybe. Mind you, I think it would also be a considerable mistake to assume its about policy.

Does the Labour party leader even have much formal input to Labour party policy any more?

You're picking someone to win elections/lead the parliamentary party. Which is why the PLP should logically have a big stake in the election: they're simply very much better at appreciating the sorts of - often not especially nice - people who can do this than activists.

Deselection is past absurd as a threat given the scale of this.

[Leonard Barden]

Chessplayer Angela Eagle has become a still stronger favourite overnight in the odds for next Labour leader after Jeremy Corbyn. Yesterday there were still a few lists headed by Tom Watson, now there are none:
http://www.oddschecker.com/politics/bri ... our-leader
Bookmakers are realistic, and if it was truly so that, as some posters on this thread are saying, Corbyn has huge backing and will easily defeat any challenger, one would expect significantly longer odds for Angela as the potentially defeated rival who would be unlikely to challenge again in future. The actual quite short odds seem to imply that the market thinks that she has a definite chance to win an election this summer.

[Nick Burrows]

In a situation where there is no hope of a resolution , and which the right of the party has declared war on the left. Giving the local constituencies the power to judge the actions of those causing the split seems perfectly reasonable. After all this is a pre-meditated coup which is about factional control of the party. Are they acting in the interests of their constituents, or indeed the country in this time when cohesion is desperately needed? Or is it about self interest, and their own careers?

The right of the party has had its day. They proved unelectable, have no ideology, leader or supporters and provided miserable opposition.
Corbyn received the largest ever mandate of a political leaders, has done perfectly well in all the electoral tests so far. Has formed effective opposition in getting the Tories to backtrack on several key policies. And just got 63% of Labour supporters to vote remain.

The only people who don't agree are 170 MPs and a heavily biased media.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The only people who don't agree are 170 MPs and a heavily biased media.

What do you think of the bid by the SNP to become the official opposition? Not yet, IMO, but if the Labour rebels all withdrew from the Labour whip or (even more nuclear) crossed to sit on the government benches (which doesn't bear thinking about, really, they would never be forgiven for that), then in actual fact Corbyn would have to be replaced by the SNP. To then be replaced by whoever the 176 elect to lead them... (if they were accepted as the official opposition). Farcical, really.

[Jonathan Rogers]

The right of the party has had its day. They proved unelectable ...

well hang on, you may dislike them but I seem to remember them winning three consecutive general elections rather comfortably?

[MartinCarpenter]

The only people who don't agree are 170 MPs and a heavily biased media.

What do you think of the bid by the SNP to become the official opposition? Not yet, IMO, but if the Labour rebels all withdrew from the Labour whip or (even more nuclear) crossed to sit on the government benches (which doesn't bear thinking about, really, they would never be forgiven for that), then in actual fact Corbyn would have to be replaced by the SNP. To then be replaced by whoever the 176 elect to lead them... (if they were accepted as the official opposition). Farcical, really.

I dunno, right now I think they'd do a much better job than anyone else Half tempting to put them in charge frankly - the Conservatives might be about to dissolve for a bit too!

They're actually also a very good example of how you can have a left wing party which is both very well organised and exceedingly competent politically.