Labour confirms rapid timetable for deputy leadership contest, with nominations closing on Thursday
The Labour party has confirmed that candidates to be deputy leader will have to obtain the required backing of 80 MPs by 5pm on Thursday, when nominations will close. It has issued this timetable, which also says the winner will be announced on Saturday 25 October.
To stand, as well as being nominated by at least 20% of the PLP (ie, by 80 MPs), candidates also need to be nominated by at least 5% of constituency Labour parties (CLPs) or by at least three affiliated organisations (of which two must be trade unions) comprising at least 5% of the affiliated membership.
Key events
Barry Gardiner, a prominent member of Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, is not running to be Labour’s deputy leader, he told Radio 5 Live’s Matt Chorley. Chorley probably was not very surprised. But Gardiner said he wanted the job to go to someone “robust enough to actually say to the cabinet when they feel the cabinet is out of step with the majority of MPs, and effective enough to turn round policies that actually are doomed”.
Neal Lawson, director of the Compass, a group promoting progressive pluralism, told the World at One that the backbencher Clive Lewis, the former transport secretary Louise Haigh and the former leader of the Commons Lucy Powell (sacked in the reshuffle on Friday) would all be good candidates for deputy Labour leader. He explained:
The heart and soul of the Labour party is being turned in a direction by, I think, quite a small, right-wing clique of people. The platform that [Keir] Starmer stood on was that platform of ‘radical realism’ and then they rejected it all …
I think the deputy leader should [be] not a chum of the prime minister but the champion of the party and those radical policies which would move us away from disaster.
I think there’s a number of names which have been thrown into the hat which meet that criteria. Whether that’s Clive Lewis, Lou Haigh, Lucy Powell, there’s a number which would begin to turn the situation around.
The most important thing is not changing the deck chairs on the Titanic. It’s steering the Titanic away from the glaciers of Farage.
Lawson was giving an interview to promote Mainstream, the new centre-left group that Compass supports.
Alison McGovern, the new local government minister, is the only government minister currently seen as a likely candidate for Labour deputy leader, Patrick Maguire from the Times reports.
Alison McGovern emerging as a plausible candidate for the deputy Labour leadership – and thus far only minister being spoken of as a contender
She is being encouraged to run by fellow MPs and me and @breeallegretti hear soundings are being taken…
In their story, Maguire and Aubrey Allegretti say that McGovern and Anneliese Dodds, who resigned as international development minister over aid cuts in February, are both potential candidates who would be “palatable” to No 10. They report:
McGovern is a junior minister in the housing department, having been a protégé of Gordon Brown and served as a chairwoman of Progress, the pressure group of Labour modernisers …
Dodds quit as international development minister in February over aid cuts. She was seen as a loyalist despite demotions in opposition, having been Starmer’s first shadow chancellor before serving as Labour chair for three years. Allies said her “principled resignation” and call for wealth taxes in July would endear her to the left.
Lisa Nandy ruled herself out of the running on Monday. She is one of the more left-wing members of the cabinet and a former leadership contender. Allies of the culture secretary encouraged her to run, but The Times understands she will sit out the race.
Alexander Burnett has announced that he is standing down as chief whip for the Scottish Conservatives at Holyrood. In a statement, he says he wants “to focus all my efforts on being re-elected [in the Scottish parliament elections next year] in Aberdeenshire West, where I will once again be competing head-to-head with the SNP in a tight race”. He will be replaced by Tim Eagle, who will combine being the Scottish Tories’ rural affairs spokesperson with their chief whip.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, has dismissed the Home Office announcement saying countries that refuse to take back refused asylum seekers could have the number of visas their citizens can get restricted. In a statement, he said the last government legislated to allow this. He said:
The power to implement visa sanctions was created by the last Conservative government in a bill which I took through parliament. It’s about time this Labour government now stopped talking tough and started acting tough.
Any country that won’t take back its own citizens who have committed a criminal offence in the UK or who have no right to be here should see visa issuance suspended. But all we get from Labour are tough words.
I urged them to immediately use the powers which the last government created some months ago, but nothing has happened.
In his statement, Philp did not explain why the previous government did not use this power.
Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, has ruled out standing to be Labour’s deputy leader, Kitty Donaldson from the i reports.
NEW: Labour MP Jess Phillips, touted as a possible candidate for the party’s deputy leadership, tells @theipaper she will not be standing, citing personal reasons.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has ruled out standing for deputy Labour leader, Sky News reports. That is no surprise. As a male, London MP, he does not meet two of the three criteria that Harriet Harman says should apply to the new deputy. (See 9.23am.) He is also relatively unpopular with party members, according to the regular LabourList membership survey. (They think he’s too rightwing.)
Keir Starmer wanted to replace Angela Rayner as housing secretary with Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, ITV’s political editor Robert Peston has claimed. But Miliband refused to move, Peston says. Steve Reed, the former environment secretary, was appointed instead.
The prime minister’s first choice to take over Angela Rayner’s housing and local government responsibilities was Ed Miliband, but he refused to leave energy and climate change. This appears to have been the one part of the reshuffle that didn’t quite go Starmer’s way.
Alison McGovern, who at the weekend was moved from being employment minister to local government minister, told TUC delegates today the government was committed to the employment rights bill.
Speaking at a conference fringe meeting, she said the bill was a “cornerstone” of Labour’s election manifesto. “Labour MPs have voted three times for it. We are committed to it,” she said.
She said details of the bill were still to be worked out, adding: “I am confident we will get to the right place that means working people have decent rights at work that supports a thriving economy.”
Starmer to meeting Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Downing Street
Keir Starmer is set to meet Mahmoud Abbas as the government continues steps towards recognising a Palestinian state, PA Media reports. PA says:
The meeting with the president of the Palestinian Authority this evening comes in the wake of Monday’s rush hour terror attack in Jerusalem.
Palestinian attackers opened fire on people at a bus stop, killing six and wounding another 12, according to Israeli officials.
Yvette Cooper, the new foreign secretary, said she was “horrified by the terrorist attack in Jerusalem”.
Abbas’s office issued a statement “condemning any targeting of Palestinian and Israeli civilians”.
Abbas arrived in London on Sunday night for a three-day visit.
He plans to use his talks with Starmer to push for an end to “the aggression, destruction and starvation being inflicted upon the Palestinian people”, his officials said.
Downing Street indicated that the government maintained its intention to recognise a Palestinian state later this month, ahead of the meeting of the United Nations general assembly.
The PM’s spokesperson said: “We continue to intend to recognise the state of Palestine before the UN general assembly, subject to the conditions that we set out. We’ve been very clear that Hamas will play no role in the future governance of Gaza or the West Bank, and must commit to disarmament.”
Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, is messaging colleagues asking for support for a possible bid for the Labour leadership, the Guardian columnist and leftwing campaign Owen Jones reports in a post on social media.
Emily Thornberry is sending around her BBC appearance to ask Labour MPs to support her bid to become deputy leader.
At the start of the genocide, she refused to say Israel cutting off food, water and energy was illegal, saying it had “an absolute right to defend itself”.
He has included this screenshot.
Stella Creasy declines to rule out standing for deputy Labour leader
The Labour MP Stella Creasy has declined to rule out running for deputy leader. In an interview on the World at One, asked if she would be a candidate, Creasy did not say no, and instead said she wanted to see the party have a debate about the future. “I think has happened if we are honest is that we have narrowed rather than broadened our ability to have our debates in a constructive fashion,” she said.
When it was put to her that she was not ruling out being a candidate, she said:
If it was about an individual that would be an easy answer, this is about the ideas and that culture.
I’m someone telling you that the Labour party has a cultural challenge, that if we get right we get the best out of each other. We’ve got to show ourselves over the next couple days that that is possible.
Labour confirms rapid timetable for deputy leadership contest, with nominations closing on Thursday
The Labour party has confirmed that candidates to be deputy leader will have to obtain the required backing of 80 MPs by 5pm on Thursday, when nominations will close. It has issued this timetable, which also says the winner will be announced on Saturday 25 October.
To stand, as well as being nominated by at least 20% of the PLP (ie, by 80 MPs), candidates also need to be nominated by at least 5% of constituency Labour parties (CLPs) or by at least three affiliated organisations (of which two must be trade unions) comprising at least 5% of the affiliated membership.
The Commons authorities have announced there will be two urgent questions after 3.30pm, on Palestine Action (tabled by Labour’s Stella Creasy) and on the failure to extradite the alleged 9/11 suspect Omar al-Bayoumi (tabled by the Tory David Davis, following new revelations in the Sunday Times).
After those are over, after 5pm, Luke Pollard, a defence minister, will make a statement on the defence industrial strategy.
No 10 says employment rights bill not being watered down, and anti-government amendments passed by Lords to be reversed
The resignation of Angela Rayner, and the sacking of Justin Madders as employment rights minister, have raised concerns on the left and in the union movement that the government might water down its employment rights bill.
At the Downing Street lobby briefing this morning, the PM’s spokesperson rejected this claim and said that anti-government amendments to the bill passed by the House of Lords would be reversed when the legislation returns to the Commons next week.
The spokesperson said:
We are absolutely backing the employment rights bill. We are a pro-worker, pro-business government and the workers’ rights legislation is the biggest single upgrade of workers’ rights in a generation.
It’s a manifesto commitment that we remain absolutely committed to and will continue to engage with businesses as the bill progresses through parliament, and that includes overturning the amendments that were passed in the Lords.
Starmer not expected to publicly endorse candidate in Labour’s deputy leadership contest
Keir Starmer is not expected to publicly endorse a candidate for deputy leader of the Labour party.
In previous internal party elections Starmer has not endorsed candidates, party sources have said, and that is not expected to change in this contest.
Starmer is also operating on the basis that the party rules do not require the deputy leader to be offered a government job.
In response to claims that the party wants to a quick contest to disadvantage leftwing candidates, making it a “stitch-up” (see 8.52am), sources said this was premature because the national executive committee has not set a timetable yet.
(While it may be true that Starmer has not publicly endorsed candidates in internal leadership contests, that does not mean he does not have a view. In the Labour party the leader’s allies normally work overtime trying to help favoured candidates in internal contests. It is rare for the leadership to remain genuinely neutral.)
Mahmood says countries which don’t help with small boat returns could face cut in number of visas issued
In a pooled interview with Sam Coates from Sky News, Shabana Mahmood, the new home secretary, offered some clues to her approach to dealing with the small boats problem. Here are the main points.
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She praised the “very strong” policy foundation left by her predecessor, Yvette Cooper, but she said that she wanted to go “further and faster” and that she would would do “whatever it takes” to secure the borders. She said:
I will be looking to go further and faster because I’m very clear I have one top priority in this job and that is to secure the borders. I will do whatever it takes.
Mahmood also said that people who had already worked with her in government knew she was “not the sort of person that hangs around”. (That might be a clue as to why Mahmood got the job; No 10 reportedly felt Cooper was too slow at taking and implementing decisions.)
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Mahmood suggested that countries that refuse to take back refused asylum seekers from the UK could face a cut in the number of visas issued to their citizens. And she said at the Five Eyes meeting today (see 9.35am) she had been discussing how the UK could coordinate action on this front with its partners (the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). She said:
I’ve been talking to our Five Eyes partners about what more we can do to work together to make sure that our borders are secure and that our citizens feel safe.
We think that there is interesting space for collaboration, particularly on how we deal with countries who do not take their citizens back, making sure that we are able to return out of our countries people who have no right to be in our countries and send them back to their home countries.
So, for countries that do not play ball, we’ve been talking about how we can take much more coordinated action between the Five Eyes countries. For us, that means including possibly the cutting of visas in the future.
Mahmood rules out being candidate for deputy Labour leader
Shabana Mahmood, the new home secretary, has told Sky News she “will not be running for deputy leader of the Labour party”.
That is no great surprise, given that she has just taken on arguably the most demanding job in the cabinet, but it does mean journalists can remove her name from the runners and riders lists.
Mahmood was speaking in a short interview about small boats. I will post those comments shortly.
TUC leader Paul Nowak says Labour has not yet made ‘change’ it promised a ‘lived reality’ for people
Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, also used his speech to the conference to urge the government to be bolder. People did not feel it was delivering change, he said.
Last July the government was elected on a manifesto that promised change. But we have to be honest; for too many people, change still feels like a slogan – not a lived reality. That cannot continue.
Nowak urged the government to show that it was on the side of working people.
My message to the government is simply this – deliver the manifesto on which you won a huge majority last July. Deliver good jobs, decent public services and better living standards in every corner of the country. Deliver the change people voted for and show working-class communities whose side you are on.
He also called for the two-child benefit cap to be lifted, as well as a windfall tax on bank profits and gambling companies and new taxes on wealth.
If billionaires can afford fleets of private yachts, day trips into space, weddings that shut down Venice, they can pay a bit more tax.
And make it clear – a Labour government will never stand aside and watch a child’s potential be wasted because of poverty. Lift the two-child cap and give our kids the future they deserve.
