Spotlight have been doing a little digging and produced profiles on the 6 Labour leadership candidates who have declared so far. Barry Gardiner is also currently considering throwing his hat into the ring so watch this space for any updates folks.
Some of you will recall that back in 2016 there was a leaked list of Labour MP’s categorised according to their loyalty (or lack of) to the leadership. We thought it might be helpful to include this information in the profile. Just to remind everyone, the categories, in order of most to least loyal, were ‘Core Group’, ‘Core Group Plus’, ‘Neutral but not hostile’, ‘Core Group Negative’ and ‘Hostile Group’.
Spotlight will also produce a detailed voting report comparing all leadership and deputy leadership candidates over the coming days so keep checking back folks. Alternatively, just drop us an email – admin@spotlight-newspaper.co.uk – and we’ll send you Spotlight email updates.
LABOUR LEADERSHIP CANDIDATES 2020
CLIVE LEWIS
- Listed in Corbyn’s Core Group
- Elected: 7th May 2015
- Remainer – resigned from cabinet 08-02-17 over decision to trigger Article 50 but rejoined the front bench a year later as shadow minister for sustainable economics.
- In April 2017, Lewis was backing calls for a 2nd referendum vote on the final Brexit deal
- July 2019: Wrote an article in the Independent about Labour’s alleged problem with anti-Semitism that focused on how to educate members about what is anti-Semitic and implied that excessive criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic and that “denying the problem is part of the problem”. He further explains that Labour lacks a “framework for understanding the conflict’s history and possible resolutions” which “support conspiracy-theorist narratives about Israel and Zionism.” At no point in this article does he explain that anti-Semitism is far less prevalent in the Labour Party than it is in any other party or in mainstream society, thus continuing to feed the narrative that Labour is the party with the issue and perhaps that he is the man with the solution to Labour’s anti-Semitism problem.
- He spoke out about Labours earlier hardline policy on immigration (pre-Corbyn)
- In his victory speech, when first elected MP, Lewis declared New Labour were “dead and buried” & promised to fight the “onslaught of cuts” by the Tories.
- In June 2015 he was elected Chair of the Parliamentary Humanist Group
- Also in June 2015 he became patron of the ‘Anti Academies Alliance’.
- One of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Corbyn as a leadership candidate in 2015.
- Corbyn credited Lewis with getting his nominations “off the ground”
- Vocal supporter of Extinction Rebellion
- Sept 2015: appointed a Shadow Minister on the Energy & Climate Change team.
- He was appointed Shadow Defence Secretary in June 2016
- He was appointed Shadow Business Secretary in Oct 2016
- Lewis supports full grants and free education.
- Lewis does not support the renewal of Trident
- Jan 2018: appointed Shadow Treasury Minister for sustainable economics.
- Clive supports a fairer redistribution of wealth and funding public services properly.
- Mirror candidate profile: he is in favour of a more liberal immigration policy, major advocate for Labour’s green new deal, he believes Labour should work with other progressive parties and even stand aside in certain seats. He wants to further reform the party and give members even greater power.
- Guardian candidate profile: believes there is an “economic and cultural case for migration”, he fiercely advocated against military action in Syria. He’s very much on the left and even believes Corbyn didn’t go far enough to democratise the party abd give members more say.
SOURCE:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/30/british-people-vote-brexit-deal-leave-eu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Lewis_(politician)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/12/corbyn-government-new-labour-tax-rich-tories
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/17/trident-vote-abstaining-nuclear-submarines
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/labour-leadership-candidates-stand-brexit-21235473
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/07/labour-leadership-where-do-the-candidates-stand
REBECCA LONG-BAILEY
- Listed in Corbyn’s Core Group
- Elected: 8th May 2015
- One of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Corbyn as a leadership candidate in 2015.
- She was appointed Shadow Minister for the Treasury in Sept 2015
- She replaced Hilary Benn as a front bench reps on the NEC (appted by Corbyn)
- She was appointed Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in June 2016
- She was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in Feb 2017.
- She fully supports Labour’s green industrial revolution
- Rebecca supported Labour’s alternative Brexit plan with the public vote caveat
- Rebecca supports a fairer redistribution of wealth and funding public services properly.
- Rebecca has been critical of Labour’s handling of anti-Semitism cases. She agrees the party has made progress but adds “we still need to go further” in order to rebuild trust… “We weren’t strong enough on anti-Semitism… we should have listened to Jewish communal organisations and involved them” She also believes that Labour should “adopt all the recommendations” of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
- Rebecca is a member of Labour friends of Palestine
- Mirror candidate profile: reluctant ‘people’s vote’ supporter, believes in Labour’s radical policies and says she fully supports Corbyn’s track record as leader of the party. Bailey is said to be the architect of Labour’s Green New Deal so it’s likely that plans to slash emissions and provide jobs in renewable industries and tackling climate change will play a big part in her campaign and future plans. She supports a fair immigration system. Although presented as a ‘continuity candidate’ there are glimmers of individuality as she has said she would be prepared to ‘press the nuclear button’
- Guardian candidate profile: Rebecca wants to invest in public services and continue Corbyn’s transformative agenda for the economy with green jobs and an end to falling living standards. She advocates “patriotism combined with internationalism” but hasn’t fully explained what this means.
SOURCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Long-Bailey
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/27/labour-green-industrial-revolution
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/rebecca-long-bailey-says-privately-21229617
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/labour-leadership-candidates-stand-brexit-21235473
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/07/labour-leadership-where-do-the-candidates-stand
JESS PHILLIPS
- Listed in the Core Group Negative category
- Elected: 7th May 2015
- 2016: Called for Corbyn to resign
- Resigned as PPS to Lucy Powell, when Lucy resigned from the Shadow Cabinet.
- Threatened to resign from the party if Corbyn was re-elected leader in 2016
- Accused the Pakistani-Bangladeshi community of “issues about women’s roles in a family, in society” and of importing “wives for their disabled sons.”
- Phillips served as deputy editor of The House, an in-house Parliamentary mag, which had been purchased by Tory donor and former Tory vice-chairman Michael Ashcroft, earning £8,000pa for two hours’ work per month
- In Oct 2019, Phillips said Corbyn should resign if Labour loses the election and hinted she would stand as a leadership candidate.
- Once boasted to journalist Owen Jones that she’d told Corbyn and his staff “to their faces… the day that … you are hurting us more than you are helping us, I won’t knife you in the back, I’ll knife you in the front,”
- She is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.
- She supports properly funding public services like schools and the NHS
- She supports a 2nd referendum on the final Brexit deal
- In Feb 2019, after a number of Labour MPs resigned to join other parties, Jess said she was sorry they were “bullied out by anti-Semites”
- In October 2018, she called for John Bercow to quit over his alleged inability to handle bullying and harassment in parliament
- Mirror candidate profile: Once said she might campaign for the UK to rejoin the EU but didn’t think it was a popular idea, criticised the income threshold component of the govt immigration bill, has campaigned against schools have to close early due to lack of funding, she’s against Scottish independence, she wants prisons and probation services back under public ownership and she advocates on behalf of women’s refuge and domestic abuse victims. Phillips quit her party membership over Blair’s decision to go to war with Iraq.
- Guardian candidate profile: She wants to tackle “economic insecurity” and redress the “Tory cuts of the past decade that haven’t just increased poverty but have increased despair”. She believe the Labour manifesto offered too many promises and lacked “economic credibility” She has criticised Trump and see him as “reckless and dangerous”. She has said that she is committed to tackling the climate crisis.
SOURCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jess_Phillips
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/labour-leadership-candidates-stand-brexit-21235473
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/07/labour-leadership-where-do-the-candidates-stand
EMILY THORNBERRY
- Listed in the Core Group Plus
- Elected: 5th May 2005
- Appointed Shadow Employment Minister by Corbyn in 2015
- Appointed Shadow Defence Secretary in Jan 2016
- Appointed Shadow Foreign Secretary in June 2016
- She has expressed that she’d rather spend money on the army than on Trident.
- Appointed Shadow First Secretary of State in 2017
- Thornberry opposed Britain’s involvement in the Saudi intervention in Yemen and called for an investigation into the Saudi-led coalition that deliberately targeted civilians. She also argued that the famine now facing Yemen is a war crime. She also called for Britain to hold the Saudis to account for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
- She is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.
- Oct 2014: Supported a motion to recognise the State of Palestine Alongside the State of Israel
- She supported a public vote on the final Brexit deal but wanted the referendum to take place before the general election.
- Thornberry has been a surprisingly vocal supporter of Jeremy Corbyn on the issue of unnecessary and damaging foreign wars. In an article in the Guardian (Feb 2018) she wrote “Jeremy Corbyn’s warnings on Iraq, Libya and Syria have proved terrifyingly right” and he was also right when he said that “the refugee crisis and civilian casualties would only grow, and mission creep was inevitable”. She concluded her article by saying that she was committed to getting Jeremy Corbyn into office so that we could “finally have a British prime minister committed to the vision he offered that Hyde Park crowd (where she’d seen him in an anti-war rally 15yrs earlier)…To live in a world free from war.”
- Following the 2017 general election, Thornberry praised Labour’s manifesto and said how she believes that it turned the tide against austerity and altered the course of political debate.
- Thornberry was highly critical of Theresa May’s “Blind loyalty to Trump” and said in in April 2017 that we’re in “a special relationship Britain can’t afford” because it fails to respect human rights and international law.
- Thornberry openly declared her support for Jeremy Corbyn after some in the PLP launched a coupe against him shortly after the EU referendum result in 2016. In fact she was highly critical of those in the PLP who would “turn inwards and indulge in a coup attempt against a leader elected with an overwhelming mandate less than a year ago” and said “I will stay loyal to Jeremy during the contest that has arisen from that coup, and he will have my vote in this election.”
- She was also extremely critical of Tony Blair’s government and the direction it took when it attacked so many traditional Labour policies and alienated its core membership and she criticised Tom Watson for calling her a traitor because she refused to go along with their plans. She effectively called the move against Corbyn a Blairite coup.
- In a recent article in the Mirror, Thornberry claimed that Corbyn’s closest aides were making decisions, she believes, without his approval or even knowledge. She gave an example where they attempted to remove text from the 2019 manifesto criticising Palestine rocket attacks on Israel, even though this text had been included in the 2017 manifesto.
- In the same article she claimed she would crackdown on anti-Semitism in the party and just kick them out “No more suspensions, training sessions or forgiveness… I would just kick these scumbags out of our party the way we should have done long before now.” – basically implying that the parties handling of anti-Semitism till now had been inadequate.
- Emily is a member of Labour friends of Palestine
- Mirror candidate profile: She’s a vocal campaigner for the ‘peoples vote’ but isn’t married to the idea that there should be freedom of movement with the EU. Was highly critical of the govt’s handling of the Windrush scandal. She’s also a very vocal critic of Donald Trump. She believes the UK could lead the world in achieving a zero-carbon economy. She believes we lost the election because we tried to deliver “too much” in the manifesto and this made it seem that the party were making unrealistic promises.
- Guardian candidate profile: Thornberry believes the party put a lot of big spending pledges into the manifesto but then failed to properly explain how we could pay for it all. She said she is prepared to take military action “If we are at risk of imminent attack.. we will always defend ourselves.” She wants Britain to lead the world in achieving a zero-carbon economy.
SOURCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Thornberry
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/17/trident-vote-abstaining-nuclear-submarines
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/29/my-plea-labour-members-stop-chaos-fight-tories
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/emily-thornberry-slams-corbyn-aides-21241098
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/labour-leadership-candidates-stand-brexit-21235473
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/07/labour-leadership-where-do-the-candidates-stand
KEIR STARMER
- Listed in the Core Group Plus
- Elected: 7th May 2015
- 2016: Called for Corbyn to resign
- Starmer was as a defence lawyer specialising in human rights issues.
- Starmer was Director of Public Prosecutions and head of the Crown
- Prosecution Service for England and Wales (CPS) from 2008 to 2013.
- He was appointed Shadow Home Office minister in Sept 2015
- He was appointed Shadow Brexit secretary in Oct 2016
- At conference 2018 he said campaigning for a ‘public vote’ should be an option.
- Starmer wanted the party to campaign for remain and has been a vocal advocate for stopping a bad-deal or no-deal Brexit and supports a public vote on the final deal.
- Starmer supports a Brexit deal that would allow the UK to remain in the customs and the single market and also protect worker’s rights.
- Starmer was highly critical of Theresa May’s attempts to undermine Human Rights law in an effort to tackle terrorism and argued that she was deflecting from the real issue, that her government had cut 20,000 police officers, including 1,300 armed officers. He also criticised the governments ‘Prevent Strategy’ because it failed to engage all communities.
- In April 2018, Starmer challenged Len McCluskey’s claims that “Corbyn-hater” MPs were undermining the leader with “sustained smearing”, claiming that the party had a problem with anti-Semitism. McCluskey said that these MPs were damaging Labour’s election prospects as a result. Starmer argued that denying that anti-Semitism is a problem is part of the problem. However, Starmer goes on to say that while the disciplinary procedure needs to be quicker and more effective, he believes the party has turned a corner on anti-Semitism. He points out that it was Corbyn who asked Jennie Formby to prioritise a clampdown on abuse and Jenny has made it clear that denying there’s a problem is part of the problem.
- Starmer is a member of Labour friends of Palestine
- Mirror candidate profile: Backs limited continued migration from the EU after Brexit, says any trade deal must protect the economy, jobs, workers’ rights and the environment, campaigned against the privatisation of the criminal justice service, believes military action should not be taken only with the Commons’ consent, wants to improve state schools so private schools not necessary, believes Corbyn’s leadership was a key factor in election defeat but also believes the manifesto was too broad.
- Guardian candidate profile: On Foreign policy, Starmer “profoundly believes in peace, reconciliation, human rights and collaboration across borders”. He thinks we should “engage, not isolate Iran”. He has expressed his commitment to Labour’s green new deal.
SOURCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keir_Starmer
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/26/workers-rights-brexit-negotiations-unions
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/09/keir-starmer-prepares-for-life-after-jeremy-corbyn/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/labour-leadership-candidates-stand-brexit-21235473
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/07/labour-leadership-where-do-the-candidates-stand
LISA NANDY
- Listed in the Core Group Plus
- Elected: 6th May 2010
- 2016: Called for Corbyn to resign
- Resigned from cabinet to undermine Corbyn
- She was appointed Shadow Energy Secretary in 2015
- Called for the re-introduction of Shadow Cabinet elections after Corbyn was re-elected as Labour Leader in 2016.
- Claimed she’d suffered abuse for not supporting Corbyn that was on a level to what she’d experienced from the far-right when campaigning as a candidate in Wigan in 2010 and said she was “genuinely frightened”
- Oct 2014: Supported a motion to recognise the State of Palestine Alongside the State of Israel
- At recent hustings, Nandy criticised the Labour leadership and accused “factions and friends of the leader” of being able to “determine where resources go”.
- Nandy supported remaining in the EU but did not back a ‘peoples vote’ and she believes the party should have just offered and backed a soft Brexit option.
- In her leadership pitch, Nandy exclaimed that the party’s response to anti-Semitism has been “woeful” and that there had been a “collective leadership failure to acknowledge the antisemitism crisis”. She also attacked other leadership candidates (including Rebecca Long-Bailey) for refusing to back the IHRA definition.
- Nandy is Chair of Labour friends of Palestine
- Mirror candidate profile: supports some continued free movement from the EU but thinks immigration should be handled by local communities, wants more investment in towns and transport infrastructure between them, wants changes to the NHS that “supports families across the board” and wants to address people’s concerns over national security. Nandy believes Labour lost the election because they didn’t connect with our voters, failed to deal with the anti-Semitism issue and had a bad Brexit policy. She says she wants to “reunite the electoral coalition that last propelled the party to power.” (i.e. the New Labour era). Says she wants to tackle climate change and give back more economic independence to communities
- Guardian candidate profile: She wants to return economic prosperity to British towns by investing in good public services, jobs and improving local transport links. She believes Trump is dangerous, especially for Britain and she thinks the UK needs to “rebuild it’s influence in the world”. Nandy says she’s committed to tackling the climate crisis.
SOURCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Nandy
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/26/im-a-remainer-and-one-of-the-people-too
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-50985378
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/labour-leadership-candidates-stand-brexit-21235473
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/07/labour-leadership-where-do-the-candidates-stand