What now for Labour?

The Conservatives have a new Prime Minister - who could remain in power until (and beyond?) a General Election in May 2020. She could also engineer an early General Election. Most ministerial posts are now filled - and Parliament is about to head off the summer.

Labour faces a less certain future. Their current leader has lost the confidence of almost 80% of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Opinion polls suggest that he commands the confidence of only a small part of the electorate. An election for the party leadership is now underway.

MPs will meet to put nominations, as Constituency Labour Parties - either have done, or will do in the next few days.

You will have access to many opinions and news stories in the coming days. I will happily share my views with you - and my reasons. But today I want to street something that is often overlooked.

The value of looking at history - 

No leader of ANY political party has had an easy time of leading their party. I've heard many friends in the Labour Party wish that we could return to the days when leaders could command the support of all members of the parliamentary party. Those days NEVER existed. Attlee had to manage conflicting egos (and boy were some of those huge - Bevin, Bevan, Morrison, Cripps - to name just a few) and very different policy preferences during his premiership. Wilson was a skilled operator, but his ability to manage was severely tested. Callaghan struggled (and he was a very skilled operator!) with a fractious party and a majority that disappeared. Blair and Brown faced rebellions from the very start of their premierships. They could all describe their challenges - in fact they have. We have a wealth of Prime Ministerial and ministerial memoirs and diaries. If nothing else is to be gained from reading these, we can at least begin to appreciate the extraordinary skills demanded of anyone who hopes to lead the main Opposition party; or to be Prime Minister.

No one can please all the people, all of the time. But to step into Downing Street as Prime Minister requires that the party leader can enthuse sufficient people to vote for their party. If Labour want to take power - and have the opportunity to fulfil their manifesto promises - they must win 13 million votes. That means appealing to a wide range of views. There are detailed election studies showing what attracted and what repealed voters. A study of those can be useful.