Cruddas would be “in the race”

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

Sunder Katwala flags the interesting interview with Jon Cruddas in this week’s New Statesman – and Jason Cowley’s even more interesting assertion that Cruddas is “in the race” for the Labour leadership, should that time come in the near future.

Cowley finds that Cruddas’ “voice quickens and his shrewd eyes shine when I ask him directly” about the leadership. Cruddas says:

“The current way this stuff is covered in Westminster is that the leadership is like a game of top trumps.” He pauses. “Listen, no one knows what’s going to happen. Actually, I thought it was wrong how one gang tried to get rid of Blair and then how the other gang tried to get rid of Brown. It puts so much poison in the system.

“What matters is the real issues – of political economy, the future of social democracy, what’s happening on the right…It’s fair to say that Compass, myself and a few others will make sure that we have a contribution to make when the time comes.”

Jason Cowley adds:

“To translate: he’s in the race.”

Later, Compass itself tweeted the link to the interview under its New Statesman headline:

“Could Cruddas run and win the leadership?”

Sunder notes that the Cruddas interview has:

“a very significant shift in language in not much more than six months from one of the more Shermanesque comments on the leadership from any leading Labour politician, which led us to headline Fabian Review’s interview with Jon Cruddas last July as The Man Who Won’t Be King.“

With Cruddas’ future in the Parliamentary Labour Party dependent on his Dagenham seat, some people worry that he may not be around to see the day. Although he has a 7,500+ majority from 2005, due to boundary changes the notional majority is nearer 6,500, and an 8% swing would win the seat for the Tories.

In those circumstances, it is possible that Cruddas would consider standing for the London mayoralty in 2012 – a position for which he is already 16/1 third favourite to win.