With nominations for the Labour leadership contest set to open this evening, the three hopefuls made their case to the Parliamentary Labour Party today at a lunchtime hustings. Despite Jeremy Corbyn being automatically on the ballot, he did grace the room with his presence — though as one MP remarked: ‘he couldn’t really not turn up. It would have been a gross sign of disrespect if he hadn’t’.
Corbyn’s performance was — predictably — met with little enthusiasm from MPs. His talk of the need for the party to work together was seen to be a hollow remark given the divided state the party is in. However, the hustings were never really about him, but instead to establish whether Eagle or Smith is best-placed to beat the Labour leader at the polls.
Eagle impressed with her words, winning some of the biggest rounds of applause. She launched a thinly-veiled attack on Corbyn over the NHS, stating that ‘rallying, seminars and protests’ were not enough when it came to protecting it. The former shadow business secretary also impressed with her call for an economic re-think post-Brexit along with her plan to tackle the abuse of MPs for simply doing their job.
However, she fell when it came to debating Smith. While the former shadow work and pensions secretary regularly praised Angela’s efforts, he said that only he could unite the party — as well as lead it. He went on to declare that he would stand down if he received the fewest votes before asking her to agree to do the same. Given that Smith’s team are confident that he has more support from MPs than her, his pledge was really a bear trap for Eagle.
While she refused to agree to the deal, Smith did succeed in setting a difficult narrative for whichever candidate comes bottom with the PLP. If Eagle does receive the fewest nominations she will now be open to criticism that she is a sore loser, or — perhaps better — a bloody difficult woman.
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