Being a Member of Parliament for Leicester and not coming from London could help Liz Kendall as she aims to be the next leader of the Labour party, claims Alistair Jones, principal lecturer at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU).
Ed Miliband stood down as Labour party leader in the aftermath of David Cameron’s surprise majority victory in the General Election. Ms Kendall, who is Shadow Minister for Care and Older People, was the first person to formally announce they would be running for the Labour leadership.
Since then, Yvette Cooper, Andy Burnham and Mary Creagh have also announced their intention to run, with Tristram Hunt expected to make an announcement this week on whether he will also throw his hat into the ring.
Alistair Jones, principal lecturer in the Department of Politics and Public Policy, has given his verdict on what she’ll need to do in order to turn Labour’s fortunes around following their worst General Election result in 30 years.
He said: “Liz Kendall was the first candidate out of the blocks in announcing her leadership bid. What stands in Liz Kendall’s favour? Firstly, she is not tarnished with being in the Labour Government during the global financial crisis, for which Labour seems to get the blame. This counts against both Cooper and Burnham.
“Secondly, she is not a London MP. Rightly or wrongly, there is a perception that Londoners are unaware of issues outside of London.
“She will need to make some high profile speeches in the near future, where she can lay out her vision for the future of the Labour Party, and how that will lead to victory in 2020.”
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Ms Kendall is known to many people at De Montfort University, especially those at DMU Square Mile, the university’s community outreach programme, which Ms Kendall has always been keen to applaud.
Mark Charlton, DMU Square Mile Manager, said: “I think she’s a superb candidate for the Labour leadership. She’s a brilliant leader and someone who is very passionate about education.
“She’s seen the work we’ve done with Square Mile with young people in schools in the area and she has been very supportive of all of that.
“She will make a fantastic candidate because of the work she has already done on the ground in the community. She understands the different needs of different people and I wish her well.”
Posted on Tuesday 12 May 2015