2019 will go down in the history books as the year when the Labour Party was inundated with accusations of antisemitism, more plots than Jeremy Corbyn’s allotment yard and a weak electoral offer that resulted in the
worst humiliating and crushing defeat for the Labour Party since 1935.
The party that once promised “a new kind of politics ” went full throttle with the party’s spin machine and
to the surprise of the few and not the many declared that whilst Labour had not won the election, they had in actual fact won the argument. John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, seemed genuinely surprised at the result and attempted to take ownership, but the reality is that the buck stops with the leader and Jeremy Corbyn must accept responsibility for the party’s catastrophic failure.
So, what now for the Labour Party? Now that Christmas and the new year festivities are out of the way the focus will be on the forthcoming leadership election with the timetable still to be announced by the party’s National Executive Committee. Laura Pidcock who until December 13th represented North West Durham was always seen as the heir apparent to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party but that has all changed since she lost her seat, and subsequently Rebecca Long Bailey has emerged as the firm favourite from the left wing faction of the party who is seen to continue project Corbyn.
Unlike 2015, Corbynism can no longer offer hope having lost two elections in the space of two years and with the emergence of Ian Lavery announcing that he will go for the top job it’s either a smokescreen to position Rebecca Long Bailey as the sensible left candidate or there is a split within the left wing.
Irrespective, the Labour Party cannot afford to have another repeat of the 2019 election, and most importantly neither can the country. To date, only Clive Lewis and Emily Thornberry have announced that they will stand for the position of leader of the Labour Party with Yvette Cooper, Jess phillips, Lisa Nandy and Dan Jarvis likely to announce in the coming weeks.