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| Starmer implicitly criticises Labour leadership for sidelining him during election campaign - live news | Starmer implicitly criticises Labour leadership for sidelining him during election campaign - live news |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Tony Blair’s speech on the lessons from Labour’s defeat | Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Tony Blair’s speech on the lessons from Labour’s defeat |
| Tony Blair, the former Labour prime minister, has now given an interview to Newsnight reinforcing the argument he made in his speech this morning - that Labour needs to ditch Corbynism if it wants to survive. (See 9.05am.) In an interview with Kirsty Walk he said: | |
| From the Financial Times’ Jim Pickard | |
| Since I have been focusing mostly on the Labour leadership today, here are three clips from Lisa Nandy on Newsnight last night. | |
| In the first one she says that, although she wants time to reflect on the general election result first, if she concludes that she can find a root to regaining the trust of lifelong Labour voters, she will stand as a candidate for the leadership. | |
| In the second one she says Labour needs to come up with policies to address the needs of towns that have never recovered from the loss of heavy industry. She says in these places young people have to leave to find good jobs, leaving the towns full of people growing old without their children or grandchildren living nearby. Investing in cities and hoping that the wealth will trickle down to these towns has failed, she says. | |
| And in this clip she says she thinks there is an opportunity for Labour because Boris Johnson is learning the wrong lessons from his election victory in northern seats. | |
| Boris Johnson has written the diary for the Christmas edition of the Spectator, the pro-Conservative magazine he used to edit. In it he does not say anything very new about what his government will do, but he has a colourful description of his campaign. Here’s an extract. | Boris Johnson has written the diary for the Christmas edition of the Spectator, the pro-Conservative magazine he used to edit. In it he does not say anything very new about what his government will do, but he has a colourful description of his campaign. Here’s an extract. |
| In her Guardian article, Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, says she wrote to Jeremy Corbyn saying it would be “an act of catastrophic political folly” to vote for an early election. Today Joe Murphy in the Evening Standard has a story quoting from what it describes as the memo Thornberry sent to Corbyn making this case. Murphy writes: | In her Guardian article, Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, says she wrote to Jeremy Corbyn saying it would be “an act of catastrophic political folly” to vote for an early election. Today Joe Murphy in the Evening Standard has a story quoting from what it describes as the memo Thornberry sent to Corbyn making this case. Murphy writes: |
| In her Guardian article, Thornberry also says that, when she argued against an early election at shadow cabinet, “pro-leave colleagues” insisted Labour should back an early election. The Evening Standard says it has “learnt” (one wonders from whom?) that Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary who has been favourite to be the next Labour leader, was one of those arguing against Thornberry at that meeting. | In her Guardian article, Thornberry also says that, when she argued against an early election at shadow cabinet, “pro-leave colleagues” insisted Labour should back an early election. The Evening Standard says it has “learnt” (one wonders from whom?) that Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary who has been favourite to be the next Labour leader, was one of those arguing against Thornberry at that meeting. |
| Emily Thornberry has declared she is entering the race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn, revealing she warned the Labour leadership that backing a Brexit election would be an “act of catastrophic political folly”, my colleague Rowena Mason reports. The shadow foreign secretary set out her pitch to be the next Labour leader in an article for the Guardian, arguing she has already “pummelled” Boris Johnson across the dispatch box and knows how to exploit his failings. | Emily Thornberry has declared she is entering the race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn, revealing she warned the Labour leadership that backing a Brexit election would be an “act of catastrophic political folly”, my colleague Rowena Mason reports. The shadow foreign secretary set out her pitch to be the next Labour leader in an article for the Guardian, arguing she has already “pummelled” Boris Johnson across the dispatch box and knows how to exploit his failings. |
| Rowena’s story is here. | Rowena’s story is here. |
| And Thornberry’s Guardian article is here. | And Thornberry’s Guardian article is here. |
| Emma Dent Coad, who was the Labour MP for Kensington before losing her seat to the Conservatives last week by just 150 votes, has told the BBC that she was diagnosed with breast cancer a month before polling day. She said that she underwent surgery three days before the election and that now she is OK. | Emma Dent Coad, who was the Labour MP for Kensington before losing her seat to the Conservatives last week by just 150 votes, has told the BBC that she was diagnosed with breast cancer a month before polling day. She said that she underwent surgery three days before the election and that now she is OK. |
| The newly appointed chair of the Conservative party’s inquiry into its handling of complaints about discrimination, including Islamophobia, has been plunged into a row over comments he made about the disputed Kashmir region, my colleague Simon Murphy reports. His story goes on: | The newly appointed chair of the Conservative party’s inquiry into its handling of complaints about discrimination, including Islamophobia, has been plunged into a row over comments he made about the disputed Kashmir region, my colleague Simon Murphy reports. His story goes on: |
| And here is Simon’s story in full. | And here is Simon’s story in full. |
| Turning away from Labour for a moment, this is what Steve Baker, chair of the European Research Group, which represents Tories pushing for a harder Brexit, posted on Twitter last night. He had 37 MPs turning up to the ERG’s first meeting of the new parliament. That suggests that they will continue to be an influential force in the Conservative party. | Turning away from Labour for a moment, this is what Steve Baker, chair of the European Research Group, which represents Tories pushing for a harder Brexit, posted on Twitter last night. He had 37 MPs turning up to the ERG’s first meeting of the new parliament. That suggests that they will continue to be an influential force in the Conservative party. |
| Sally Gimson, who was selected and then deselected as Labour’s candidate for Bassetlaw in the election, has strongly rejected John Mann’s claim that Sir Keir Starmer did not support her. (See 11.10am.) She is backing Starmer for leader. | Sally Gimson, who was selected and then deselected as Labour’s candidate for Bassetlaw in the election, has strongly rejected John Mann’s claim that Sir Keir Starmer did not support her. (See 11.10am.) She is backing Starmer for leader. |
| And here are the main points from Yvette Cooper’s interview on the Today programme this morning. Cooper, a former cabinet minister and chair of the home affairs committee in the last parliament, was a candidate for the leadership in 2015, when she came third behind Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Burnham. | And here are the main points from Yvette Cooper’s interview on the Today programme this morning. Cooper, a former cabinet minister and chair of the home affairs committee in the last parliament, was a candidate for the leadership in 2015, when she came third behind Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Burnham. |
| Cooper said the Labour party had to change in the light of the election defeat. She said: | Cooper said the Labour party had to change in the light of the election defeat. She said: |
| She said Labour could not just be a party for those living in cities. She said: | She said Labour could not just be a party for those living in cities. She said: |
| This is a point that is also made in the Fabian Society’s post-election analysis (pdf) of what Labour needs to do to win in the 2020s. In the report, Andrew Harrop writes: | This is a point that is also made in the Fabian Society’s post-election analysis (pdf) of what Labour needs to do to win in the 2020s. In the report, Andrew Harrop writes: |
| Cooper sought to distance herself from both Jeremy Corbyn and Tony Blair by saying that Labour needed to be seen as patriotic. Speaking about the need to appeal to voters in towns, she said: | Cooper sought to distance herself from both Jeremy Corbyn and Tony Blair by saying that Labour needed to be seen as patriotic. Speaking about the need to appeal to voters in towns, she said: |
| (Blair would not accept that Labour was not seen as patriotic when he was party leader. But it was seen as very globalist, which is what Cooper seemed to be referring to. Being globalist and being unpatriotic are not necessarily the same thing.) | (Blair would not accept that Labour was not seen as patriotic when he was party leader. But it was seen as very globalist, which is what Cooper seemed to be referring to. Being globalist and being unpatriotic are not necessarily the same thing.) |
| She confirmed that she was thinking of standing, but said she would not take a decision until after Christmas. Asked whether she would be a candidate, she said: | She confirmed that she was thinking of standing, but said she would not take a decision until after Christmas. Asked whether she would be a candidate, she said: |
| She said Labour had to be both radical and credible. She said: | She said Labour had to be both radical and credible. She said: |
| She said Labour needed to eliminate antisemitism in the party, and make its culture kinder and more inclusive. She said: | She said Labour needed to eliminate antisemitism in the party, and make its culture kinder and more inclusive. She said: |
| John Mann, the former Labour MP who now sits in the Lords and serves as an independent adviser to the government on antisemitism, is not impressed by Keir Starmer’s leadership bid. | John Mann, the former Labour MP who now sits in the Lords and serves as an independent adviser to the government on antisemitism, is not impressed by Keir Starmer’s leadership bid. |
| Mann is referring to the way Sally Gimson, an ally of Starmer’s, was removed as Labour candidate for Bassetlaw by the party leadership on a dubious pretext because she was not favoured by the left. | Mann is referring to the way Sally Gimson, an ally of Starmer’s, was removed as Labour candidate for Bassetlaw by the party leadership on a dubious pretext because she was not favoured by the left. |
| This is what political journalists and commentators are saying about what has effectively been the soft launch of his leadership campaign, with his Guardian interview yesterday and his Today interview this morning. He is certainly not winning universal approval. | This is what political journalists and commentators are saying about what has effectively been the soft launch of his leadership campaign, with his Guardian interview yesterday and his Today interview this morning. He is certainly not winning universal approval. |
| From my colleague Rafael Behr: | From my colleague Rafael Behr: |
| From the New Statesman’s Jason Cowley: | From the New Statesman’s Jason Cowley: |
| Cowley is editor of the New Statesman, but his staff are quite happy to take a different view. | Cowley is editor of the New Statesman, but his staff are quite happy to take a different view. |
| From the New Statesman’s George Eaton: | From the New Statesman’s George Eaton: |
| From the New Statesman’s Stephen Bush: | From the New Statesman’s Stephen Bush: |
| From the Daily Mirror’s Jason Beattie: | From the Daily Mirror’s Jason Beattie: |
| From the Daily Mirror’s Pippa Crerar: | From the Daily Mirror’s Pippa Crerar: |
| From Sky’s Lewis Goodall: | From Sky’s Lewis Goodall: |
| From the i’s Jane Merrick: | From the i’s Jane Merrick: |
| From the Mail on Sunday’s Dan Hodges: | From the Mail on Sunday’s Dan Hodges: |