Who should be the next leader of the Labour Party?

I think it is obvious that in less than a year from now Gordon Brown will have lost the election to David Cameron (unless he gets kicked out earlier) and the Labour Party will need a new leader. Who do you think should be their next leader? Alan Johnson, David Miliband, Harriet Harman, Jack Straw or someone else?|||Depends who is left after the next Election...





There's this handy little widget on the Daily Telegraph website (which has disappeared off the front pages, but luckily I've got it bookmarked):


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopi鈥?/a>


That has a swingometer, which is handy for getting an idea who may get back in... and who is likely to be collecting their gold plated tax payer funded pension after the election.





Harriet Harman would be good choice on the basis that she's mad as a hatter + i haven't come across a messageboard discussion about her yet where I haven't seen a female poster saying Harman's feminst views are extremely patronising, and having her as leader would likely end up relegating Labour safely out of the way as the 3rd / 4th / 5th party in the UK to allow the sensible parties (Conservatives, UKIP + English Democrats) to fix the current useless Labour lot's mess.


Going by the Swingometer, it looks like she's one of the most likely to keep her parliamentary seat (Camberwell %26amp; Peckham) at the next election, even if there's a 20% swing to the Conservatives (20% is the highest it'll crank up to).


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopi鈥?/a>


http://www.boris-johnson.com/forum/comme鈥?/a>





Jack Straw is probably one of the most sensible bets for the job.... even receiving a bit of praise in the excellent blog of Conservative MP John Redwood for being one of the few Labour ministers who takes parliament seriously. However there may be a few question marks over whether he'll keep his Blackburn seat at the next election, as the swingometer suggests it'll only take a 10% swing on the 2005 General Election results for the Conservatives to unseat him, and they were well up on that nationally in the last poll I read about in the news.


http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com/2009/07鈥?/a>





David Milliband's made too much of a prat of himself in the past year or two, and would be better off staying away from the job for at least another 5 - 10yrs. But at least still likely to be still there after the election (another who'll be able to withstand a 20% swing to the Conservatives).


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-鈥?/a>


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnew鈥?/a>


http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/new鈥?/a>


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/鈥?/a>


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/42494鈥?/a>


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-鈥?/a> (see 2nd pic in this last article - the "banana incident")





Alan Johnson is regarded as the other most sensible candidate for the job, may still be there after the next election unless there's a 17.5% swing to the Conservatives that'd unseat him.





I saw talk in the news recently of parachuting Mandelson into a safe seat and going for the party leader job... which I suppose would be good for the same reasons as giving Harperson the job, seeing as he's one of the ringleaders responsible for bringing Blair %26amp; Brown to power which has brought this country to it's knees just about.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopi鈥?/a>


http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com/2009/07鈥?/a>





So, from this Conservative supporter's view......... a combination of Alan Johnson, Jack Straw, Frank Field + maybe John Reid in the top jobs would probably be their best bet for at least clinging onto 2nd or 3rd as they're fairly well respected by people no matter which party they support for being some of the few sensible Labour MP's.|||I would reply sounding like an angry conservative, but I'm sure that someone else will......|||Right, next joke please.





The only credible person they ever had was John Smith and he passed away while Leader. He was a good man also.|||Nick Griffin|||me|||Pass|||Considering the lack of spine of MPs like Miliband I'm going to say Johnson should be leader.





However it's looking ever more likely that we'll see the Dark Lord Mandelson taking the reigns.|||Alan Johnson maybe, I would say Jack Straw but I don't think he'll go for it. Really anybody but Harriet Harman, I think she is the worst politician in the country, don't get me started on her I could go on for hours. . . . .





(I really hate her)





No chance for Ed Balls, I wouldn't like to see David Miliband in such a position yet and possibly not in the future. I wouldn't mind Peter Hain but I would doubt his leadership qualities. No chance for Tessa Jowel. Hilary Benn won't go for it and wouldn't get it. Ultimately Vince Cable is the best politian in the country and others just pale in his shadow (especially Nick Clegg)|||As long as they do lose the election I don't think that it matters. I just want to see the back of this dreadful government.|||Oh I hope if Gordon packs it in either voluntarily or otherwise then the numpties in the Labour Party vote in Harriet ! It will be just what's needed to flush this rotten socialist gang down the pan.|||jeremy clarkson|||could be cocoa the clown no one would know the difference|||Margaret Thatcher|||david miliband.|||Might as well be Kermit the frog we might have more trust for him.|||Being there is not much likelihood af a labour party being much bigger than the BNP. The question is arbitrary.|||Lenny Henry, then they will also have a comedian at the helm|||As a none Labour voter I vote Harriettee Harman, she is the best candidate for the opposition!|||There is no-one who would be up to the job - I wouldn`t trust any of them to run a stall at a school open day.|||Probably Lord Mandelson or Alan Johnston i think both are well suited and booted to do the job. David Miliband I feel is still too young to take the top job.|||The Conservatives will never win a general election with David Cameron as there leader and there is no credible alternative to Gordon Brown in the Labour party..The only hope for the Conservatives is to dump Cameron and put William Hague or Ken Clarke in charge|||David Miliband . hes the youngest . and i think i like him .|||Labour? Americans spell it Labor. We write color , not colour.





We got guns, and you don't now. sorry to see your gun crime increased four fold because of it. Silly socialists. The liberals here are socialists too. Common sense does not exist in the socialist world, they think take the guns away from law abiding people and the world will become rainbows and sunshine. Problem is, the criminals do not care what the law says... Silly socialists!