Why I Am Backing Keir Starmer for Labour Leader

The Labour leadership contest is in full swing - and I have made up my mind, supporting Keir Starmer as the candidate most likely to put the party back on track.

There is much campaigning to go before the final decision by the full Labour Party membership is announced in April, and developments so far have been interesting.

Initially, I was struck by some of the extraordinary things that candidates said, particularly coming off the back of a disastrous General Election result in December.

Rebecca Long-Bailey, in an interview with ITV, gave Jeremy Corbyn "10 out of 10" for his leadership - an astonishing assessment considering the Election result, the failure to stamp out anti-Semitism and the incessant in-fighting between Labour factions during his leadership.

Even worse, candidate Clive Lewis, now eliminated from the contest, called for a referendum on the abolition of the Monarchy, after the Harry and Meghan story broke. If you think Brexit is divisive, it would be as nothing compared to a referendum on the Royal Family! One of the craziest ideas I have ever heard!

Jess Philips was a stronger candidate but did herself no favours by suggesting that, under her leadership, the Party might campaign to reverse Brexit at some future point. Although she subsequently rowed back on this position, she struck me as someone who was unlikely to unite the party or get the country behind her. I suspect Jess could make a good minister but would need more experience to go for the top job. She was wise to drop out of the race.

Looking back to the damp and dark of December, it was an honour to do a bit of traipsing around the constituency of Hove and Portslade, canvassing in support of our fine candidate, Peter Kyle, who was re-elected as MP with a large majority.

On the doorstep, I was struck by how moderate and sensible many voters are.

I started to think of the yawning gap, nationally, between Labour activists and the far larger group of potential Labour voters.

Although Peter Kyle and his supporters were doing well in Hove and Portslade, I could see the overall Tory landslide coming like a runaway juggernaut.

The Labour position on Brexit was a hopeless fudge, the massive Manifesto baffled voters and many did not like Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn or Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell - or the stench of anti-Semitism clinging to Labour.

In the torrential rain in Hove, we were doing all right. But watching the national news, the signs were all too apparent that Labour had lost touch with its working-class roots, and that the Corbyn/McDonnell/Momentum experiment would end in abject failure nationally. And so it proved.

Having lost 59 seats,  as well as four consecutive general elections, the scene was set for the most important Labour leadership contest in a generation.

At stake is the very future of the Labour Party. If Labour members and MPs get it wrong once again, there may not be a Labour Party in five years' time.

With this in mind, what has surprised me is that so many people are still talking about the Labour Party as if it is a campaign group, as if winning power and forming the Government is irrelevant, that the battle is within the Labour Party and not with the other parties.

It is vital to remember that we are not just trying to choose a Labour leader but a future Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

This week, I went to see Keir Starmer speak at All Saints Church, Hove, and was hugely impressed by him.

Without notes, Keir spoke fluently, persuasively and credibly for an hour before taking questions, some of them tough ones, from the large audience. He was brilliant - and I agreed with almost everything he said.

He said the electorate had lost trust in Labour as a force for good and that the party needed to unite and stop fighting itself. He pointed out that divided parties don't win elections, and vowed personally to stamp out anti-Semitism within the Party, with the proof being the return of those who have quit Labour because of this disgraceful issue.

Moreover, his remarkable career as a human rights barrister, and clear intelligence and humility make him ideal to lead.

Through and through, Keir Starmer is Prime Ministerial material.

Afterwards, I approached and talked to him about homelessness - and he pledged his whole-hearted commitment to ending homelessness.

Of the other remaining candidates, I have been impressed by Lisa Nandy, who is very bright and an excellent media interviewee. She could lead the Labour Party but I feel this is not her time. However, I would like to see her in a big Cabinet role in a future Labour Government.

Emily Thornberry, I have to admit, troubles me. When the Labour Party was licking its wounds after its General Election defeat, I was shocked that she threatened to sue former colleague Caroline Flint in an unpleasant little dispute.

Moreover, Thornberry does not seem to come over humbly in interviews. Recently, I saw her complaining that people were backing other candidates rather than voting for the best candidate (her!). I just couldn't imagine Emily Thornberry leading Labour to victory in a general election.

Which leaves Rebecca Long-Bailey - the Momentum-backed so-called Continuity Candidate. What puzzles me is why you would want to continue something so disastrous for the party.

From what I have seen of her interviews and speeches, I am not sure if she can win the Labour leadership election. But I am sure that, if she does, she will never be Prime Minister.  Indeed, an Ipsos MORI of ordinary voters placed her last of the four remaining candidates. Just 14 percent the public, in the poll, said she had the makings of a prime minister.

I have heard stories of members of the Socialist Workers Party joining Labour to vote for Momentum candidates - and even Tories joining to vote for Rebecca Long-Bailey, as the most damaging candidate to Labour. None of this is good.

Today (Saturday, 8 February 2020), I attended the ballot by the branches in the Hove and Portslade constituency.

More than 300 party members from Hove and Portslade sat a large hospitality suite at Hove Cricket Ground and heard some excellent, rousing speeches, in support of Keir Starmer, Lisa Nandy, Rebecca Long-Bailey and party unity (tellingly, I don't think anyone spoke up for Emily Thornberry).

We then voted. As the votes were counted, our MP Peter Kyle told me he is backing Keir Starmer (he'd vigorously supported Jess Philips until she dropped out).

A preferential voting system was used and, when transfers had been made, the final result for the top two was: Keir Starmer, 159; Rebecca Long-Bailey, 83. (Incidentally, before they were eliminated, in the first round Lisa Nandy got 62 votes, not far behind Long-Bailey with 69, and Emily Thornberry polled just four votes.) 

So, Keir Starmer won our backing!

Hooray! I just hope that when the big national members' vote - the one that counts most - takes place, sense again prevails.

Graham Groucutt RIP

Most sadly, my friend and allotment neighbour Graham Groucutt has died.

Although I knew he had been ill, news of Graham's death still came as a shock. Until a few months ago, he had been a vigorous man - brimful of life.

I had kept an allotment at Earwig Corner, Lewes, for a dozen years now and, after Graham and his friend and former son-in-law Chris joined the allotment society some nine years ago, you were always guaranteed a friendly welcome.

Almost every time I visited my plot, Graham was there near the gate, eager to chat and gossip.

Moreover, he was incredibly generous, constantly making cups of tea for his fellow allotment holders, mowing the communal pathways and helping in myriad other ways.

After I struggled with my Flymo, Graeme took to cutting the grass fringes on my plot, shrugging off my thanks whenever we talked.

A couple of years back, my then allotment neighbour's wife sadly died.

Graham immediately offered to tend the plot for the man concerned until he was ready to come back to it.

In the event, my neighbour decided to give up his plot and Graham took it over, keeping it immaculately.

Graham became Chairman of the allotment society and fulfilled the role with great skill, diplomacy and dignity.

But as I look over Graham's empty plot now, I am embarrassed by how little I knew about him.

We talked about everything except his life. I don't know about his past or even his age.

At first I didn't think I even had a picture of him, although I photographed his former son-in-law Chris several times. Weeks later, I found just one.

Graham was an unassuming gentleman who was quietly always there. 

Looking through my messages, I can see the last one he sent me was in September last year when I thanked him for cutting my grass and he said simply: "My pleasure!"

When I saw him in recent months, he said he had lost his energy, but the doctors did not know what was wrong with him.

By December, we were told he was too weak to come to the allotment.

He loved those allotments. A true son of the soil, he loved every clump of earth, every blade of grass, every root vegetable there.

But most of all, Graham loved the allotment people at Earwig Corner - and we loved Graham.

Graham's family plan to bury him in the West Midlands, I hear, but his fellow allotment holders are planning their own wake at Earwig Corner, with trees planted in his memory. What could be more appropriate.

We'll all miss Graham more than words can say.