Picture copyright PA Media Sir Keir
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PA Media
Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed he’s standing within the contest to exchange Jeremy Corbyn as Labour chief.
The shadow Brexit secretary, seen as a frontrunner within the contest, has written within the Sunday Mirror that Labour must “rebuild quick” to revive belief.
It comes hours after MPs Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips stated they have been coming into the race.
The competition was referred to as after Mr Corbyn introduced he would stand down as chief after Labour’s heavy election defeat.
Shadow overseas secretary Emily Thornberry and shadow treasury minister Clive Lewis have additionally confirmed they’re standing.
Shadow enterprise secretary Rebecca Lengthy-Bailey, seen as one other potential frontrunner, can be anticipated to formally be part of the competition.
‘Rebuild and win’
Declaring his candidacy within the Sunday Mirror whereas releasing a video on Twitter, Sir Keir stated Labour wanted to take heed to voters if it was to “restore belief”.
Sir Keir, who backed Stay within the EU referendum and was one of many main figures within the social gathering advocating for a brand new referendum, will kick off his management bid by visiting Brexit-backing Stevenage on Sunday.
A few of Mr Corbyn’s allies have blamed Sir Keir’s Brexit stance for the social gathering’s disastrous election efficiency final month, the place a lot of its conventional, Depart-backing Northern strongholds fell to the Conservatives.
“We can not bury our head within the sand: Labour should rebuild and quick. We’ve got to revive belief in our social gathering as a drive for change and a drive for good,” Sir Keir wrote within the paper.
“The hundreds of thousands of people that wanted change on the final election nonetheless want change. The ethical struggle towards poverty, inequality and injustice should proceed.”
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PA/Reuters
Earlier than Sir Keir, Lisa Nandy and Jess Philips have been the most recent MPs to enter the competition
Nevertheless, Sir Keir stated Labour couldn’t “lose sight of our values or retreat from the radicalism of the previous few years”.
Amongst different issues, he stated the social gathering ought to push for a “Inexperienced New Deal” to struggle local weather change and make the case for a “radically remodeled financial system that empowers commerce unions and communities which have been left behind”.
And he additionally referred to as for a “human rights strategy” to overseas coverage and worldwide relations, accusing ministers of “failing to carry an irresponsible US president to account” over the scenario in Iran.
Sir Keir’s background
The human rights lawyer, who was made Queen’s Counsel in 2002, served as head of the Crown Prosecution Service and accepted a knighthood in 2014, and has struggled to shake-off perceptions of privilege.
The 57-year-old was named after Labour Celebration founder Keir Hardie and has emphasised his upbringing by a toolmaker father and nurse mom in London’s Southwark when dismissing allegations he’s too middle-class to talk to the social gathering’s historic heartlands.
His CV contains co-founding the famend Doughty Road Chambers and advising the Policing Board to make sure the Police Service of Northern Eire complied with human rights legal guidelines.
He entered Parliament because the MP for Holborn and St Pancras in 2015.
A timetable for the management election – and any rule modifications – is ready to be determined by the social gathering’s ruling Nationwide Government Committee (NEC) on Monday.
Below present guidelines, would-be candidates for each the chief and deputy chief roles should first be nominated by greater than 20 MPs.
They have to additionally safe nominations from no less than 5% of Labour’s constituency events or three affiliated our bodies – two of which have to be commerce unions.