By Ann Higgins
I hope I can be forgiven for blowing my own trumpet when I point out the prescience I showed in last month’s article about a Labour leadership challenge. Despite many people I spoke to at the National Rejoin March in London on Saturday still hoping that the issue would simply go away, since Andy Burnham’s victory in Makerfield on Thursday it has only gathered pace, culminating in Keir Starmer announcing yesterday that he was stepping down as Labour Party leader, leaving the door open for Burnham and any other members of the PLP who want to throw their hats into the ring. For the benefit of anyone who would like to remind themselves of the procedure for choosing a new Labour leader, I’ve attached the rules that I included in last month’s article below.
One hat whose owner will not be entering the ring is that of Wes Streeting, who was very quick to announce that he will not be seeking to take part in the process to select a new Labour leader, while former defence minister Al Carns and Darren Jones (who presently holds no fewer than three government positions) are considering standing, perhaps in the hope of gaining plum jobs under Burnham when he moves into Number 10 as now looks inevitable, the only question being when, not if.
That at least seemed to be the consensus among those speakers in Parliament Square who touched upon the subject. Several speakers also implied that they saw Burnham as being more pro-Rejoin than Starmer, but it’s not altogether clear if that’s based on fact. Back in May, the BBC reported that Burnham was against rejoining, saying “My view is that Brexit has been damaging, but I also believe the last thing we should do right now is re-run those arguments.” He added: “I’m not proposing that the UK considers rejoining the EU. I respect the decision that was made at the referendum and it is going to undermine everything I have said about strengthening democracy if we don’t respect that vote.”
Meanwhile, The Telegraph reports that the EU is hoping that in the current talks with the UK (now postponed until the UK premiership is settled) Burnham will be a soft touch. It notes that “A source familiar with the discussions said: ‘They perceive him as likely to be less robust.’” Shortly after Sir Keir announced his resignation, Antonio Costa, the European Council’s president, said the gathering would be put off: “In a nutshell, we are reassessing together with the UK, but it’s also obvious that circumstances have changed and this means that we will need to postpone the summit,” which was due to be used to unveil a youth mobility scheme, and smooth out frictions in trade in food, drink and energy.
None of the speakers in Parliament Square seemed to harbour such doubts. At least one claimed that, contrary to what we are frequently told, not only does the EU really want us back in the fold, but it may be open to allowing us to return without having to commit to joining the eurozone or losing all our former rebates. Nor did they seem to have many doubts about Andy Burnham being a better bet for our chances to rejoin. Whether they are right in any of those predictions only time will tell.
The procedure for electing a new Labour leader as explained by PoliticsHome:
“There are two main paths to replacing a Labour prime minister, with the process differing significantly from that of the Conservative Party, which held multiple leadership elections during its time in power between 2010 and 2024.
“A leadership contest can be triggered by either Starmer resigning or by another Labour MP gaining the support of 81 MPs – or 20 per cent of sitting Labour MPs – to challenge him for the leadership. Before 2021, an MP only needed the support of 10 per cent of the Parliamentary Labour Party to stand.
“The candidates must then secure nominations from five per cent of Constituency Labour Parties or three affiliates comprising five per cent of Labour’s affiliated membership (including two trade unions).
“The final stage is a vote among party members and affiliates. An alternative vote system – also known as a preferential ballot – is used, in which the selectorate ranks their preferred candidates. Voters only have one vote. Votes are then redistributed by ranking until one candidate receives over 50 per cent of the vote; the candidate that reaches the threshold first wins the leadership contest, becoming Labour leader and prime minister of the United Kingdom.”
