Healey warns Labour must get serious as leadership row puts credibility at stake
John Healey warned Labour’s “credibility in Government is at stake” in an apparent rebuke of leadership jockeying among rivals looking to oust Sir Keir Starmer.
The Defence Secretary urged colleagues to “get serious” and put Britain’s security before politics in a speech in Westminster on Tuesday after more than a week of turmoil following the party’s May elections mauling.
Speculation has mounted over who might run in any challenge for No 10 after a path opened up for leadership hopeful Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to return to Westminster via the Makerfield by-election.
John Healey warned Labour’s “credibility in Government is at stake” in an apparent rebuke of leadership jockeying among rivals looking to oust Sir Keir Starmer.
The Defence Secretary urged colleagues to “get serious” and put Britain’s security before politics in a speech in Westminster on Tuesday after more than a week of turmoil following the party’s May elections mauling.
Speculation has mounted over who might run in any challenge for No 10 after a path opened up for leadership hopeful Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to return to Westminster via the Makerfield by-election.
It's an embarrassing thing for Mr Healy to say as credibility in Government went AWOL some time ago. Maybe he is reminding us that Andy Burnham won't restore it, but neither would any of the other people touted as replacements for Keir Starmer.
That's the problem of course, Labour doesn't produce credible political leaders and in that restricted sense Healey may be right - what's the point?
8 comments:
Irony of ironies: the other day someone said that the only worthwhile cabinet minster is the Moslem woman who is trying to get to grips with illegal immigration, Shabana Mahmood. If she really can make the Home Office even slightly effective she'll deserve a Damehood at the very least.
You could argue that the credibility of the Government has been a side issue. Ever since the last Generation Stumbler has been angling to stay in position and the various factions in the Labour Party have been waiting for a chance to get rid of him.
The weird policy decisions, the U turns, the relaunches, casting blame on others, have all been about Stumbler hanging on. I wouldn't be surprised if potential replacements were found to have secret un-redeeming features. Anything really as long as Stumbler can hang on.
In the meantime the ordinary people suffer from the vacuum at the top.
Mahmoud is the last one trying to fix it.
dearieme - I seen a few comments saying she's the only one with enough gumption to try and do the job she has been given.
DJ - and it's not even clear if anyone has the drive and ability to do better than Starmer. Possibly not as the party has an ideological block on the kind of changes required to tackle excessive taxation and a stagnant, bloated government.
James - and not from a position of political strength, the party won't give her that.
I'm not sure 'Credible' is a word that could describe any government in my voting lifetime, but certainly not this one
Bucko - I agree, notable by its absence. Thatcher was credible in this sense, but after her it faded rapidly.
One has to remember that Wilson expended much effort in keeping his party together; Heath was an acute disappointment almost from the start and Callaghan though able was too locked into the socialist system to break out. Government has usually been disfunctional with ideological people pulling in different directions.
Tammly - yes, ideological people pulling in different directions have done an enormous amount of damage over the decades.
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