Labour 'needs a break clause' over next leader, says party grandee
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Version 0 of 1. A Labour shadow cabinet minister has called for the leadership candidates to offer the party the chance to get rid of them in 2018 if they are underperforming. Janet Royall, the Labour leader in the House of Lords, is one of a number of senior figures who would like the option of a “break clause” to prevent the party going into the 2020 election with a weak leader if it feels the wrong choice has been made. Lady Royall told BBC’s Newsnight: “It would be very good if whoever puts themselves forward were to say: ‘Look in three years’ time it would be really good if you could reaffirm that I’m the right person to take us forward.’” Several Labour MPs have told the Guardian this was a good idea to stop a repeat of the last election, in which many had worries about Ed Miliband in the runup but there was no attempt to replace him. However, others fear a big debate about the character and ability of the leader would allow the Conservatives to attack them with just two years to go before an election. The leading candidate is Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, who is thought to have more than 70 MPs behind him, while Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, has around 50. Related: Burnham and Cooper are squeezing out modernisers, senior Labour figures fear The breadth of their support is beginning to make it difficult for some of the other candidates such as Tristram Hunt, the shadow education secretary, and even Liz Kendall, the shadow health minister, to gather the 35 nominations from MPs they need to get on the ballot paper. On Monday, Dan Jarvis, the Labour MP who disappointed many party activists by refusing to stand for the leadership, gave a personal boost to Burnham’s campaign by endorsing him. The move by one of the key figures in the 2010 intake follows the decision of the shadow work and pensions secretary, Rachel Reeves, to support the Burnham campaign. Securing the backing of Reeves and Jarvis is a coup for Burnham and his campaign manager Michael Dugher. Cooper also has the support of big-hitters including Chris Bryant, the shadow culture secretary, John Healey, a former local government minister, John Spellar, the shadow Foreign Office minister, and Kevan Jones, a shadow defence minister. In her first major policy intervention, she said on Tuesday that Labour needed to reset its relationship with business, adding that Miliband’s divisional rhetoric of “predators and producers” was mistaken. She also promised to back government plans to cut corporation tax and vowed to set up a prominent business group to advise her as party leader. “We can’t be set against the government’s recent cut in corporation tax for the future. Our rhetoric can’t be set against the wealth-creators and drivers of our future economic growth. We can’t be set against business, and too many believed we were,” she said. |