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U.K.’s Labour Set to Name Starmer Leader as Party Trails Tories

U.K.’s Labour Set to Name Starmer Leader as Party Trails Tories

(Bloomberg) -- Britain’s opposition Labour Party, still reeling from its worst electoral defeat in more than 80 years, is poised to name a moderate lawyer with an eye for detail as its new leader on Saturday.

Keir Starmer is the runaway favorite to succeed socialist firebrand Jeremy Corbyn, who led Labour to a disastrous failure in last December’s general election. If confirmed on Saturday morning, Starmer’s victory in the leadership contest would potentially push the U.K.’s main opposition party closer to the political center-ground at a critical time for the country.

The first priority for the new leader will be to decide how far to oppose Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and how much to rally around the national cause at a time of unprecedented crisis.

Starmer, who had been Labour’s Brexit spokesman, is expected to beat Corbyn-loyalist Rebecca Long-Bailey when the result of a ballot of party members is announced. The 57-year-old had already received the overwhelming backing of Labour’s members of Parliament.

The opposition is picking a new leader at a sensitive time for the government. While Johnson’s approval ratings have jumped in recent weeks, he has been criticized for being too slow to test people for the virus and for failing to equip health-care workers properly for the scale of the outbreak.

Public Mood

While another election is not due until 2024, if the public mood turns against Johnson over his management of the crisis, Starmer could quickly become a credible next occupant of 10 Downing Street.

First, though, he will need to heal deep divisions within Labour, which has been plagued by splits between the hard-left Corbyn-supporting faction and the more centrist supporters of former prime minister Tony Blair. Starmer has tried to cast himself as a unity candidate, and has promised to retain much of Corbyn’s left-wing program, including commitments to re-nationalize railroads and increase income tax on the top 5% of earners.

Starmer was also one of the principal authors of Labour’s Brexit policy -- which contributed to the party’s historic defeat in December. Instead of promising to reverse the vote to leave the European Union, Labour offered to renegotiate a new deal with the bloc before putting it to the public in a second referendum. Yet the party didn’t commit to backing one side or the other in such a vote.

The son of a toolmaker and a nurse, Starmer was named after Keir Hardie, the first leader of Britain’s Labour party. Before being elected to parliament in 2015, he worked as a human rights lawyer and served as Director of Public Prosecutions between 2008 and 2013. Like Johnson, he represents an electoral district in London.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.