Keir Starmer Announced As New Leader Of The Labour Party

Keir Starmer is confirmed to be the new leader of the Labour party, succeeding Jeremy Corbyn to the post. Manchester MP Angela Rayner was also elected as Labour Party deputy leader.

Starmer's two opponents in the leadership race were Rebecca Long-Bailey and Wigan MP Lisa Nandy, but after gaining the support of a majority of local constituency parties, he maintained a consistent lead in opinion polls of other Labour members.

Sir Keir will be expected to set out his plan of action for his first few weeks, which will undoubtedly include how he will tackle the party's antisemitism struggle.

But the main challenge for the party will be how he will approach the unprecedented problems surrounding the coronavirus pandemic - a job that nobody could have foreseen.

This morning, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already written to opposition party leaders to 'work together' on the crisis.

The 57-year-old shadow Brexit secretary is also a trained barrister, and he has served as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015.

Previous Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced that he would be standing down from his role, following the party's devastating defeat in December's general election, giving the party its worst result for 85 years.

He made the decision to stay in charge until his successor was elected, announcing the news as he regained his seat as the Member of Parliament for Islington North with a massive 26,000 majority.

Mr Corbyn said he 'will not lead the party in any future general election campaign' but he will lead the party during a period of 'reflection and discussion'.

PA

During his speech, he thanked his constituents, saying it filled him with 'pride and pleasure' to represent them.

He then brought up the criticism he and others had faced during the campaign, saying that the pressure 'on those surrounding politicians is often very, very high indeed and the media intrusion in people's lives is very high indeed'.

The 70-year-old then turned to the disappointing result of the election.

He said: "Obviously it is a very disappointing night for the party. But I want to say this - in the election campaign we put forward a manifesto of hope.

"However, Brexit has so polarised debate it has overridden so much of normal political debate."

Topics: politics

Amelia Ward

Amelia is a journalist at LADbible. After studying journalism at Liverpool John Moores and Salford Uni (don't ask), she went into PR and then the world of music. After a few years working on festivals and events, she went back to her roots. In her spare time, Amelia likes music, Liverpool FC, and spending good, quality time with her cat, Paul. You can contact Amelia at [email protected].

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