This week has been dominated by the build-up to the Labour Party’s results extravaganza – Leader, Deputy Leader and London mayoral candidate. Despite some last minute positioning and appeals for votes, the leadership front runner was still seen as being Jeremy Corbyn. With results coming on Friday and Saturday the party hope to get as much publicity and coverage as possible for the results. Depending on the outcome, some may prefer to make as little fuss as they can.
So what can we learn from the political news this week?
- Labour is not irrelevant – the Conservatives have already started laying into Corbyn before the result is even announced. A BBC Panorama programme into Corbyn was called a ‘hatchet-job’ and the media are taking great delight in digging up Corbyn’s past comments. No-one is yet sure how the electorate will react should he win but it has to be remembered that Labour is the official Opposition party and remains a large and important force at a local level as well.
- London – in the first of its results, Sadiq Khan has been elected as Labour’s candidate to be Mayor of London. Many think he will face likely Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith MP. If there is a desire for greater difference between the parties and between candidates then they have been granted their wish.
- Switch off the mic – David Cameron appears not to have learned anything from Gordon Brown. Brown had ‘bigot-gate’ after he criticised a Labour supporter when the mic was still on, now David Cameron has managed to offend the whole of Yorkshire by saying they hate each other.
- Long reign o’er me – the Queen becoming the longest reigning British monarch was a chance for a bit of cross-party consensus, especially at the start of Prime Minister’s Question Time. However, the only politician to really have any time with the Queen on the special day and to get a speech in as well was Nicola Sturgeon. Prince Philip meanwhile seemed happier to look out of the window during the train journey they spent with Sturgeon rather than engaging in any small talk.
- BBC to go hyper-local? – a report into the future of the Beeb by the University of Cardiff and NESTA suggested that it should fund the emerging hyper-local journalism scene. If adopted, such an approach would have obvious implications for the role of local politics and politicians as well.