The Jeremy Corbyn Estate Race officially started on Tuesday January 7. And the name of the new Labor leader will be known on April 4. So decided the NEC (National Executive Committee), the governing body of Labor, Monday, January 6, while the candidacies are increasing to replace the leader, forced to announce his departure after the historic defeat of his party in the general elections British, December 12, 2019 (Labor has only 203 members, the lowest since 1935).
The debacle is far from being digested, but time is running out for the main opposition party, if it wants to continue to influence national politics: the conservatives, led by Boris Johnson, and with a comfortable majority 365 out of 650 seats in the House of Commons, are preparing to make Brexit a reality. It should be effective on January 31 and crucial negotiations on the "future relationship" with the European Union (EU) will start in the process: Mr. Johnson wants to complete it before the end of 2020.
Six MPs already in the ranks
The Corbyn estate race promises to be tough: six MPs have already joined the ranks, and more are expected to follow. Among the first candidates declared, Emily Thornberry, Minister of International Relations of the shadow cabinet, elected to the Commons since 2005. But also Jess Phillips and Lisa Nandy, two strong personalities in Westminster. The first, 38, elected from Birmingham Yardley, distinguished herself by her muscular remarks towards Jeremy Corbyn or Boris Johnson. The second, 40, elected from Wigan (near Manchester), is one of the main opponents of the party's position on Brexit: she even voted in late October for the divorce agreement negotiated by Mr Johnson with the Twenty- seven.
For now, however, Keir Starmer, 57, is the favorite. Member of Parliament for Holborn and St Pancras (central London), he is Minister for Brexit in the shadow cabinet of Mr Corbyn but, unlike the latter, who cultivates an ambiguous position vis-à-vis the EU (and which many suspect to be brexiter), it is a remainer – in favor of maintaining in the Union – claimed. A fairly lackluster speaker, he nevertheless has a strong reputation: according to a YouGov survey, published at the end of 2019, 36% of the Labor members questioned place him in first choice.
Faced with this moderate elected official, everyone has been waiting for the last few days for Rebecca Long-Bailey, the protege of John McDonnell, finance minister of the shadow cabinet and close to Jeremy Corbyn, to enter the contest. Considered the heiress of the leader and her very left positioning, the young woman, 40, experienced a meteoric rise within the party, carried by the very powerful Unite union and supported by activists of the "pro-Corbyn" movement. Momentum.
