Keir Starmer come on down.

[Workingman]

Well, he has won and he did it in the first round, so it is a stunning victory. Rebecca Long-Bailey was second and Lisa Nandy third. The deputy has also been named, Angela Rayner, but her win went to the wire of the third vote. Neither would have been my choice.

The question now is where does the party go. A new shadow cabinet will obviously be first on the agenda. The level of his victory should give Starmer the confidence to ditch the likes of Diane Abbott, Dawn Butler, Richard Burgon, and a few other non-performers, and bring in some fresh faces. He is also going to have to grab the anti-Semitism nettle and crush it once and for all.

Where Labour is headed should become clearer in the next week or so as 'Team Keir' develops. Interesting.

[TheOstrich]

As expected. He has to deal with Momentum, though, and I would want to see what policies emerge (socialist, centre-left or hard-left) before contemplating their electoral chances, which currently remain at zero.

[cromwell]

As expected.
Starmer has one big advantage. Imo the tv media will love him and give him a big leg up.
Whether that will counter the negativity of the upcoming internal fighting with Momentum and the anti Semitic loons we'll have to see.

[Workingman]

The lid is slowly closing on Momentum. About 64% of the membership voted and only 27% of them voted for the Momentum candidate. The message from the streets is fairly clear and that is Momentum does not have much support.

The problem lies within, from MPs the likes of Burgon, Abbott, McDonnell and Corbyn, and party hacks such as Jennie Formby.

Following news just now that two Momentumites on the National Executive Committee have been voted out Starmer has it within his grasp to sdeline the core of Momentum. He has some strong contenders from the centre and soft-left to put in place is he so wishes. I am thinking of Benn, Reeves, Cooper (yes I know) Jarvis, Nandy and Allin-Khan, and there will be others. There is a window of opportunity opening up, but is he strong enough to act? I am not that sure.

[medsec222]

I think Keir Starmer is a good choice. As you say Frank, he won it on the first round so he has a good mandate. He has sat on the fence for too long now and this is his chance to make his mark. He was very vocal on the subject of Brexit but hopefully he will realise that this ship has now sailed

[Suff]

Personally I think it is excellent that a Lord should be leading the Labour party....

It means they have finally come of age and moved into 21st century politics..

Whether the voters will like him or not? Interesting point.

[Workingman]

Meds, the country needs a strong political opposition and I would be more than happy if he could deliver that. What it does not need is point scoring over this Covid-19 thing, and from what he said in his speech it looks like he is prepared to work with the government on this issue. That's a mature approach and hopefully he can stick to it.

I still think he's a poor choice, but he'll do for now.

[medsec222]

I am glad the skinny one with the glasses didn't get it - at the risk of being politically incorrect

[Kaz]

I am glad the skinny one with the glasses didn't get it - at the risk of being politically incorrect

So am I

[Kaz]

I'm pleased, I voted for him