Labour Party leadership election 2015

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And Cooper hits 35 pledges. Meanwhile the struggle to get Corbyn on the ballot begins as several Left MPs who had pledged their nominations for Burnham have switched to Corbyn.

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And then there were three: Kendall has made the ballot. Meanwhile in another universe, Frank Field has decided to give his nomination to Corbyn.

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Yes, a lot of nominations last time round were borrowed. In these less... er... factionally fractious... times it even makes a lot of sense.

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What exactly are the perks in being deputy leader? doesn't seem like a really influencing majordomo

The Deputy Leader is entitled to a seat in the Cabinet/Shadow Cabinet and gets an automatic seat on the NEC. It's also a very prestigious post and prestige matters. Of course George Brown stayed on as Deputy after resigning from the Cabinet, but then he was special...

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Map of the Leadership nominations, partly because but also to see if there are any patterns worth noting:



Candidates are coloured but with a cross added.

Errors possible etc.

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Deputy. In this case the colours are much more random and will likely alter etc:

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The threshold is as high as it is historical reasons (specifically Benn declaring in 1988 that he was going to challenge Kinnock for the leadership every year, come what may), but in these less fractious times there's a decent case for a downwards revision.

Maps updated, btw.

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Just because Benn has been just mentioned...a pointless info...Kendall was the runner up in 2001 Chesterfield selection to succeed Benn

Yes, that's a fun little fact. I think it's fair to presume that she would have been a rather better candidate than the man actually selected, but then your average homeless crack addict would have been a better candidate than he...

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Healey has withdrawn from the Deputy contest, citing concerns about the possibility of their only being two candidates on the ballot. Given that he was the most likely other candidate to make the ballot this looks like a rare example of political self denialism.

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You think so? I think it's more likely that we'd see crippling factional conflict.

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Where would they go? I mean, maybe it'll inspire some movement to Plaid in Wales (which I doubt); but what party would Labour activists go in Emgland?

The usual precedent is that when Party activists cease to be so, they mostly cease all political activity.

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I'll do another map update this evening, probably with an entirely new Deputy one to reflect the new state of play.

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I saw in the newstatesman a piece claiming Scotland's lost and Labour should merge with LibDem in England-Wales, how likely would a new leader from the party's right espouse this? especially if Farron leads the LD

Somewhat lower than 0% probably.

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Updated versions of the nominations maps can be found on the first page of the thread.

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That he was the Left candidate was not really what people thought at the time, even if most of the Soft Left backed him. This contest feels much more ideological than the 2010 one.

Anyway, this is one of those arguments in which everyone involved is partly right and mostly wrong: elements of the legacy of the Blair government turned pretty toxic over time (because of the approach that government took towards the political process as much as anything else) and are still hurting, but turning sharply leftwards in all respects is most unlikely to be the answer. What I find personally depressing about the 'Blairite' Right is that, much like the Hard Left, they mostly seem concerned with fighting yesterdays battles, which is certainly not something that Mr Tony could have been accused of c. 1995...

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Mary Creagh has withdrawn her candidacy.

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I'd tell you that if I knew.

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Nominations by region. Errors quite likely as this is a 'hah! I am tired!' thing... oh and note that in Labour Party terms Cumbria is grouped with the North East rather than the North West...

North: Burnham 12, Cooper 8, Kendall 5, Corbyn 3, Yet To Nominate 1
North West: Burnham 24, Kendall 8, Cooper 5, Corbyn 3, YTN 8
Yorkshire & The Humber: Cooper 9, Burnham 9, Kendall 3, Corbyn 2, YTN 10
West Midlands: Cooper 15, Kendall 4, Burnham 3, YTN 3
East Midlands: Cooper 4, Kendall 3, Burnham 2, Corbyn 1, YTN 4
Eastern: Corbyn 2, Cooper 1, Kendall 1
London: Cooper 10, Kendall 9, Corbyn 7, Burnham 3, YTN 16
South East: Kendall 2, Burnham 1, YTN 1
South West: Burnham 1, Cooper 1, YTN 2
Wales: Burnham 11, Kendall 5, Cooper 4, YTN 6
Scotland: YTN 1

North: Watson 11, Flint 6, Ali 2, Creasy 2, Eagle 2, YTN 5
North West: Watson 9, Eagle 8, Flint 6, Creasy 5, Ali 2, Bradshaw 1, YTN 17
Yorkshire & The Humber: Watson 6, Flint 5, Creasy 2, Bradshaw 2, Eagle 1, YTN 17
West Midlands: Watson 19, Flint 3, Ali 1, YTN 2
East Midlands: Watson 4, Ali 1, Creasy 1, Eagle 1, Flint 1, YTN 6
Eastern: Eagle 1, Watson 1, YTN 2
London: Ali 9, Flint 7, Bradshaw 6, Creasy 6, Watson 4, Eagle 3, YTN 11
South East: Bradshaw 1, Creasy 1, Flint 1, YTN 1
South West: Bradshaw 3, Creasy 1
Wales: Flint 7, Bradshaw 4, Watson 3, Creasy 2, Eagle 2, YTN 6
Scotland: YTN 1

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I see that he swallowed his pride. In the interests of a proper debate with all factions represented: good.

Map updated: I will do a double check at some point to make sure that it's 100% accurate.

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No, Corbyn. He had been telling everyone that he wasn't going to accept 'loaned' nominations; that he only wished for support from actual supporters.

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Had another go at the regional breakdown thing:

North: Burnham 12, Cooper 8, Kendall 5, Corbyn 3 No Nomination 1
North West: Burnham 24, Kendall 9, Cooper 5, Corbyn 5, NN 5
Yorkshire & The Humber: Burnham 10, Cooper 9, Corbyn 6, Kendall 3, NN 5
West Midlands: Cooper 14, Kendall 4, Burnham 3, NN 4
East Midlands: Cooper 4, Kendall 3, Burnham 2, Corbyn 2, NN 3
Eastern: Corbyn 2, Cooper 1, Kendall 1
London: Corbyn 16, Cooper 9, Kendall 9, Burnham 4, NN 6
South East: Kendall 2, Burnham 1, Corbyn 1
South West: Cooper 2, Burnham 1, NN 1
Wales: Burnham 11, Cooper 6, Kendall 5, Corbyn 1, NN 2
Scotland: NN 1

Same caveats as before.

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Creasy has made the ballot and Ali has withdrawn. Which means its possible for Eagle and/or Bradshaw to make it now, which wasn't looking likely earlier this week.

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Yes, there will indeed be five candidates on the ballot. I'll update-and-correct the map shortly. And it is done.

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Looks to be a combination of all three, though for the first point it's more that London MPs are more likely to be firmly on the Right or firmly on the Left than those from other regions.

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Wikipedia misleads you: most right-wing candidate is Bradshaw. If there is a 'Blairite' candidate it is he (Flint has moved to a more generic Labour Right stance since 2010). Watson, Flint, and Eagle are all former trade unionists (Watson worked for the old AEEU, Flint worked for the GMB, and Eagle worked for the old COHSE. The AEEU is now part of Unite and COHSE is now part of Unison). All candidates bar Eagle are associated with the Right of the Party (Eagle is soft Left) but with different parts of it, though Watson has good relations with much of the Left. I'll go into more detail later.