Jeremy Corbyn conceded there was some room for renegotiating with Brussels following the treatment of Greece’s left-wing government; Yvette Cooper, Liz Kendall and Andy Burnham all said they could not imagine voting to leave under any circumstances. It’s in three parts.
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Amid bitter recriminations at the top of the party after one opinion poll put Mr Corbyn on course for a shock victory, Lord Mandelson warned that Labour’s future as a viable party of government was under threat. Have to say I really enjoyed it. I’m told in the Green Room afterwards all four candidates said it was the best hustings they had done.
A huge 43% of Labour supporters said they would back the politician in the latest poll by YouGov.
She said: “Labour delivers for wonderful cities like Liverpool when we are a passionate, practical-minded party that wins power in order to change people’s lives. To use that kind of language is just abuse”, said the former deputy prime minister. “I think we need a new model of fiscal devolution, more powers over employment, skills, housing, transport”.
John McTernan, a former special adviser to Mr Blair in Downing Street, turned on Labour MPs who had “lent” their nominations to Mr Corbyn to “broaden the debate”, even though they did not want him as leader.
The Labour row comes after a YouGov poll for the Times that put left-winger Mr Corbyn ahead in the race and Ms Kendall fourth.
The Observer, the Sunday newspaper traditionally closest to Labour, said in an editorial this week: “The problem isnât just Corbyn, since none in the leadership election inspires real confidence”.
Liverpool was the scene of one of the fiercest battles in Labour party history in the 1980s when then-leader Neil Kinnock confronted “militant” members.
Coyle said he did not regret lending his name to team Corbyn, but admitted: “If he won, I might”.
Mr Corbyn, who is enjoying a surge in support from grassroots Labour members, criticized the “siege of Gaza” and responded to a question on trade boycotts saying he was “in favour of economic [restrictions] particularly relating to arms and particularly relating to the importation of settlement produce”.
The study also predicts Mr Corbyn would defeat Mr Burnham 53% to 47% in the final round.
Since the Blair years, Labour has gradually moved away from a narrative of collaborative social good towards an approach which looks to apportion blame to one group for the plight of others and punish them accordingly. A third former supporter admitted Mr Corbyn did not have the skills or experience to lead the party. Liz Kendall was such an appalling non-entity that even a politics nerd like me knew nothing about her before the leadership election. Labour was built as the party of the industrial working class, then transformed by Blair and his “New Labour” colleagues to embrace private investment, personal wealth and the financial sector.
But Frank Field, who nominated Mr Corbyn despite disagreeing fundamentally with him about economic policy, said the other candidates had failed to articulate an alternative to Mr Corbyn’s stance of “deficit denial”.
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Prescott told the former prime minister to “calm down” after Blair warned that people who said their heart was with Jeremy Corbyn should “get a transplant“.
