Following the Labour Party’s disastrous showing in the British election on Thursday, leader Jeremy Corbyn says he will step down at some undetermined future point. I suspect that if Corbyn has not resigned by the end of next week, then Labour parliamentarians will offer their own leadership challenges.
Regardless, the party faces a grave challenge. It must find a new leader who can earn the activism and support of the party’s far-left base and somehow also win back moderate voters who so spectacularly abandoned the party this week.
Who might that leader be? As I see it, only two obvious choices stand out.
The favorite is Keir Starmer. The former head of England’s legal prosecution service, Starmer is seen as a center-left voice who could win moderates, but also be a voice who commands respect from the Labour left.
Then there’s Jess Philips. Working-class and popular in her constituency, Philips would appeal to Labour voters across the spectrum. Except for one thing: She’s an ardent Corbyn critic. With Corbyn still surrounded by distinctly sycophantic loyalists, it’s not at all clear that Philips could win the plurality she’d need to secure the party’s leadership.
Even if one of these two was able to succeed Corbyn, the party’s troubles are only beginning.
After all, Labour needs to figure out whether it’s going to stick with its current massive renationalization program and its pledges to greatly increase government spending. If the new leader abandons that agenda, the person will risk alienating the party’s left. But if the next leader doesn’t abandon those plans, then the person will risk alienating the moderate voters who kept the party in power between 1997 and 2010.
In short, Labour has some very hard choices to make and not a lot of good options.
