MP voted Labour deputy leader
SIR Keir Starmer has been named the next leader of the Labour Party with Greater Manchester MP Angela Rayner named the new deputy leader.
Sir Keir was a front runner for the spot and won with 56.2 per cent of the vote, while Ms Rayner picked up 52.6 pc of the vote for deputy.
Salford MP Rebecca Long-Bailey was the nearest rival for leader with 28pc of the vote, while Wigan MP Lisa Nandy finished with 16pc.
Sir Keir has described his new role as the ‘honour and privilege of my life.’
He said: “It is the honour and the privilege of my life to be elected as leader of the Labour Party. It comes at a moment like none other in our lifetime.
“Coronavirus has brought normal life to a halt. Our cities, our towns and our villages are silent, our roads deserted. Public life has all but come to a standstill and we’re missing each other.
“People are frightened by the strangeness, anxious about what will happen next. And we have to remember that every number is a family shaken to its foundation.
“Unable even to carry out the most poignant of ceremonies, a funeral, in the way that they would like. It reminds us of how precious life is, but also how fragile.
“It reminds us of what really matters, our family, our friends, our relationships. The love we have for one another. Our health.
“Our connections with those that we don’t know. A greeting from a stranger, a kind word from a neighbour. These make up society. They remind us that we share our lives together. We have to trust one another and look after one another.
“And I can see this happening, people coming together to help the isolated and the vulnerable, checking on their neighbours.”
Angela Rayner, the MP for Ashton, Droylsden and Failsworth, who is recovering from coronavirus, posted a YouTube video speech saying: “It will be a long and difficult road ahead but we must unite, both in the face of this crisis and to offer the better future that the citizens of our country deserve. “Things have dramatically changed in our country in recent months but our values remain the same, and more important than ever,” she said. “Those are the values we will reflect in our actions as an opposition and a movement – standing up for our public services, for our workers and carers, and for a society in which people work together and look after one another.”
Sir Keir added that Labour will play its ‘full part’ in supporting the Government during the current pandemic and that the party will “engage constructively with the Government, not opposition for opposition’s sake. Not scoring party political points or making impossible demands. But with the courage to support where that’s the right thing to do.”
Sir Keir continued: “We will get through this. The curve will flatten, the wards will empty, the immediate threat will subside. And we have scientists working on vaccines.
“But when we do get through this we cannot go back to business as usual. This virus has exposed the fragility of our society. It’s lifted a curtain.’’
Sir Keir also paid tribute to departing leader Jeremy Corbyn who he said had “led our party through some really difficult times, who energised our movement and who’s a friend as well as a colleague.”
He also used his acceptance speech to pledge to “stamp out” anti-Semitism in the party which has plagued recent electoral campaigns.
Sir Keir said: “But we have to face the future with honesty.
“Anti-Semitism has been a stain on our party. I have seen the grief that it’s brought to so many Jewish communities. On behalf of the Labour Party, I am sorry.
“I will tear out this poison by its roots and judge success by the return of Jewish members and those who felt that they could no longer support us.”
It will be a long and difficult road ahead but we must unite
Deputy Labour Leader Angela Rayner