Labour leaders & the Celebrity Traitors. A brief history
The hunt for the person responsible for briefing that Wes Streeting wants to replace Keir Starmer as PM continues. It can be understood why there might be moves to replace Starmer at some point but Streeting doesn’t appear to be an ideal alternative..
There is a wider point. The desire of the Tory Party to replace their leaders is well documented. They have had six since 2010. Labour who have had three leaders in the same period is traditionally less keen, not least because in recent times a smidgeon of democracy beyond the Parliamentary Labour Party has become part of the process.
Media coverage, as ever for the moment and only for the moment, has been for the most part unaware of Labour’s history not of leadership challenges as such but of suspicions of them.
Prof Tim Bale (Times 13th November) has noted some. Harold Wilson worried about a challenge from Roy Jenkins. In the end Jenkins and others challenged by splitting to form the SDP. Blair was perpetually concerned about a Brownite challenge. That did indeed happen after the 2005 Election, which Blair won. Brown in turn thought David Miliband might challenge him as the 2010 Election came into view.
Spotting the genuine traitors and in particular working out who the faithfuls are is a game with high stakes in Westminster but probably not one that attracts the kind of audience that the recent BBC series did.
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