Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips take swipe at 'safe' Long Bailey as Labour leadership race kicks off
4 min read
Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips have warned Labour MPs that the party must make a decisive break from the Jeremy Corbyn era if it is to win power again.
In a clear swipe at leadership rival Rebecca Long Bailey's vow to continue Mr Corbyn's approach, the pair said his successor must change course or face electoral oblivion.
All six leadership candidates set out their pitches for the job at a hustings in front of MPs and peers in the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP).
Ms Long Bailey had earlier launched her leadership bid by vowing to continue the left-wing policies Mr Corbyn had pursued during his time in the job.
But Wigan MP Ms Nandy said: "Now is not the time to steady the ship. If we do not change course we will die and we will deserve to."
One Shadow Cabinet member told PoliticsHome: "Lisa Nandy smashed it. She's the one to watch."
A previously-undecided Labour peer said: "I think Nandy might be the real deal. Tonight was her moment. She was clear and thoughtful, and answered the question ‘can she inspire and lead’?"
Jess Phillips, meanwhile, also took a swipe at Ms Long Bailey's safety-first approach.
She said: "I have spent my life in one way or another working to change lives. What I have realised is that I can’t keep moving the dial slightly. We have to get power to really swing the dial and change lives. That would be radical.
"I understand that there’s a path that looks safe. But the pathway to being Prime Minister is much harder. Out of 31 elections since the Labour was created, we have only won a working majority in only five.
"Boris Johnson has got a majority of 80. We run the risk of being completely irrelevant for the next four years. All over the country people have busy lives, with lots of noise from one way or another. We have got to get them to hear us in the little time they give us."
Ms Long-Bailey vowed not to "let down the people who rely on us".
"Our number one duty as Labour MPs is to learn the lessons of defeat and make sure we don’t repeat them," she said.
Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer, who is currently the bookies' favourite for the leadership, urged the party to focus on trying to "win back our heartlands" after an election that saw the Tories make major inroads into seats traditionally held by Labour.
"We need to understand and to address each and every reason we lost at this election, but we also need to win back Scotland, we need to win back seats in Wales, and if you draw a line from London to Bristol and look south we only have a handful seats," he told colleagues.
"So, we have got a mountain to climb."
Candidates hoping to make it onto the Labour leadership ballot will need the backing of at least 22 MPs and MEPs by next Monday.
They will also need to scoop up the support of either local Labour parties or a batch of its affiliates, including trade unions, to secure a place in the final contest.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn has vowed not to declare his backing for any of the candidates hoping to succeed him as Labour leader
He refused to be drawn on his preference for the party's top job despite praising Rebecca Long Bailey as a "wonderful colleague".
The Labour leader told BBC News: "I won't be saying who I'll be voting for."
The decision not to wade into the debate over the party's next boss comes after Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell revealed he would be backing Ms Long Bailey, who on Tuesday rated Mr Corbyn "10 out of 10" for his leadership of the party.
Responding to those comments, Mr Corbyn said Ms Long Bailey was a "wonderful colleague". But he added: "I never mark my own homework."
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