Starmer, Long Bailey and the rest of the field

LABOUR’S 1983 election manifesto was called “the longest suicide note in history”. Now Jeremy Corbyn is producing the longest death-rattle in history. On January 7th the party’s national executive committee decided the terms of the contest to replace him. The next leader will be announced on April 4th. Candidates must secure the support of 22 MPs or MEPs to get on the ballot. They then need nomination by at least 33 constituency parties or three affiliated organisations of which two must be trade unions. Only then does their name go to the membership in a deciding postal vote. While this process works itself out, Mr Corbyn is the party’s zombie leader and Britain has no serious opposition.

There are two front-runners in this slow race: Rebecca Long Bailey, the opposition business spokesman, and Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary. Ms Long Bailey is a continuity candidate who thinks her party lost the election because it presented good policies badly. She has got off to a faltering start, rousing general mirth by calling the man who led his party to its worst defeat since 1935 a “visionary” who deserved a mark of “ten out of ten”. Her robotic delivery is already grating after only a week; her history as a suck-up who failed to criticise Mr Corbyn over anti-Semitism also dogs her. But as a self-proclaimed “proud socialist” she enjoys the support of party barons like Len McCluskey, head of the Unite trade union, and Jon Lansman, boss of Momentum.