UK Labour figures begin jostling to be party’s next leader

Labour politicians have begun jostling to become the next leader of the British opposition party in the wake of its crushing defeat in last week’s national election.

Keir Starmer, the party’s spokesman on Brexit issues, and senior lawmaker Yvette Cooper are among those suggesting they are considering a run to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the race that will heat up next year.

Former Labour prime minister Tony Blair, meanwhile, places the blame for last week’s loss to the Conservative party firmly at Corbyn’s feet, saying he pursued a policy of “almost comic indecision” on Brexit that alienated voters on both sides of the debate.

“I believe, with different leadership, we would have kept much of our vote in traditional Labour areas,” Blair says. “He (Corbyn) personified politically a brand of quasi-revolutionary socialism, mixing far-left economic policy with deep hostility to Western foreign policy which never has appealed to traditional Labour voters and never will appeal to them.”

— AP