Starmer pledges to bring Labour party together

LONDON: Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to bring the Labour Party together after he won the race to replace Jeremy Corbyn by a landslide.

The human rights lawyer beat rivals Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy in the first round of counting, securing 56 per cent of the 490,731 votes cast.

Sir Keir, who was named after Labour’s first parliamentary leader Keir Hardie, said his election was the “honour and privilege of my life”. In an acceptance speech posted on social media on Saturday, he said his mission is to restore trust in the party as “a force for good and a force for change”. He also apologised for anti-Semitism in Labour which has brought “grief” to Jewish communities. His victory — which marks a significant change of direction for the party — came after the planned special conference to unveil the winner had to be shelved because of the coronavirus crisis. The results were instead announced via social media, while the Labour Party website appeared to crash.

Angela Rayner won the deputy leadership with 52.6 per cent of the vote in the third round, and promised to “do everything” to repay her supporters’ trust. She tweeted: “I know we face a long and difficult road ahead but it’s our responsibility to offer the better future that the citizens of our country deserve.”

Shortly before the result was announced, Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote to opposition party leaders inviting them to a briefing and insisting “we have a duty to work together at this moment of national emergency”.

Johnson congratulated Sir Keir in a call on Saturday afternoon and the pair agreed to meet next week to discuss the coronavirus crisis. Former Labour leader Corbyn said he looks forward to working with Sir Keir and Rayner, and told them leading the party is a “great honour and responsibility”.

Defeated leadership candidate Long-Bailey said Sir Keir would be a “brilliant prime minister” and pledged to “do all I can to make that a reality”. And Nandy said he would have her “full support in the challenges that lie ahead”.

Unions widely welcomed Sir Keir and Rayner’s victories, with Unite general secretary Len McCluskey saying it is “the job now of our movement to support them in this as they move forward”.

But left-wing campaign group Momentum, which had backed Long-Bailey, said it would “hold Keir to account and make sure he keeps his promises”.

Sir Keir won 275,780 votes out of 490,731 returned ballots — equivalent to 56.2 per cent — while Long-Bailey came second with 135,218 votes (27.6 per cent) and Nandy was last with 79,597 (16.2 per cent). He won more votes than Corbyn, who in 2015 secured 251,417 of the 422,664 votes cast, but his predecessor won a higher vote share (59.5 per cent).

Sir Keir will have to find a way to rebuild Labour support in its traditional heartlands, but his first major challenge will be to establish a clear voice on the coronavirus crisis.