Burnham shows early lead, while deputy leader race starts as dead heat

Leader

The leadership contest is starting to heat up, with MPs from all over the party coming out in support of one candidate or another. There are currently four people in the race: Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper, Mary Creagh and Liz Kendall. Burnham has been widely tipped as the favourite to win but the result is by no means a foregone conclusion. And whether they can make it onto the ballot all depends on if they can secure the sought after 35 nominations from MPs in the party.

But here at LabourList we thought we’d bypass all of this and ask our readers who they want to be the next leader. We listed each of the candidates who’ve declared so far but also gave readers an opportunity to select an MP who hasn’t declared they’re standing.

So how do the results look?

Andy Burnham, who is shadow health secretary, comes out on top with 35% of the vote. This isn’t particularly shocking, given that there’s been some vocal support for him within the party. And as the Labour party’s NHS spokesperson for the past 5 years, he’s scored himself points with a lot of people.

In second place is Liz Kendall with 24%. Although 11 points behind Burnham, this is no bad place for Kendall to be – particularly as she only became an MP in 2010 and isn’t necessarily as well known. She has, though, been Shadow Minister since her first year in parliament.

However, what is perhaps most interesting about the results is that in third place is ‘other’ (we’ll come to exactly who makes up this other category in a moment). 22% of people chose an MP who hasn’t declared or opted for none of the above. This could signal some discontent that there isn’t the variety of candidates that readers would like to see. Or that they’re not particularly excited about anyone who’s said they’re standing.

In fourth place (or third place among the declared candidates, if you remove ‘other’) is Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. She’s on 13%, suggesting that she does have a base of support, but will need to build on it heavily.

In last place at the moment is Mary Creagh, on 6% of the vote. Creagh is Shadow International Development Minister, but does not have the profile of the other candidates – and there are questions about whether she will have enough MP support to make the ballot.

Andy Burnham	34.6
Liz Kendall	24.4
Yvette Cooper	13.1
Mary Creagh	5.9
Other	22.1

What of the names put forward in this ‘other’ category? A large number were mentioned but we’ve got a list of some of the people who got the most nominations from readers.

At the top of the list is Ed Miliband – 61 people would have liked, it seems, for him to stay on as Labour leader. Behind him is newcomer to parliament, Keir Starmer. 51 people said they wanted him to lead the party into the 2020 election (perhaps reflecting the online campaign calling him to do so), while behind him by two votes is Dan Jarvis. Many hoped Jarvis would throw is name into the ring The MP for In fourth and fifth place are two very different politicians. Tristram Hunt, who announced he would’t be standing earlier in the week, received 4o votes while left wing firebrand John McDonnell who’s set up ‘Radical Labour’ to influence the contest got 33.

Here’s the list of the others who received votes:

– Lisa Nandy, who like Starmer has seen an online campaign encouraging her to stand. She’s the woman who received the most votes in ‘other, with 31 backers.

– Stella Creasy, who’s standing to be deputy leader bagged 18 votes

– Diane Abbott, the London Mayoral candidate who’s been an MP since got 1987 17 votes

– Jon Cruddas, Labour’s policy coordinator under Miliband got 12 votes, while ex-postman and former minister Alan Johnson got 10

– David Miliband, Ian Lavery and Chuka Umunna – all of whom can’t stand either because they’re not an MP, in the case of Miliband, or because they’ve ruled themselves out. All got 9 votes

-Harriet Harman, former deputy leader and current caretaker leader received 7

– Dennis Skinner, the leftwing veteran MP, also known as the Beast of Bolsover, scored 5 votes.

Deputy Leader

But this contest isn’t just about who will be leader. With Harriet Harman stepping down as Deputy Leader, there’s another important spot to be filled. Tom Watson was first out of the gates to say he’d be running, but does that mean he gets the backing of most LabourList readers? Apparently not.

Instead in first place is MP for Walthamstow Stella Creasy. She received 29.2% of the vote, just ahead of Watson who got 29.0%. This does mean they’re more-or-less level pegging making it a very tight race indeed.

With almost half of the percentage of the vote these two received respectively is Caroline Flint. The Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary tends to be seen as on the right of the party and got 15% of the vote.

Just behind Flint are Angela Eagle and Ben Bradshaw on 10.7% and 10.2% respectively.

Unlike in the leadership question, the ‘other’ category came a dead last here, with only 5% of people choosing this option. This could be because they see more variety in the deputy leadership race, or that MPs they really want to lead they would choose for the top spot.

Interestingly, Burnham and Cooper both got 3 votes each for this position. However, they’re not alone here, passionate left winger Jeremy Corbyn is with them in this spot, along with Keir Starmer, Dan Jarvis and Tristram Hunt. While, 2 people say they want Diane Abbott as deputy.

MPs that got one vote for deputy leader include: Chi Onwurah, Chris Bryant, Gerald Kaufman, Gloria De Piero, Harriet Harman, Ian Lavery, Jamie Reed, Lisa Nandy and Vernon Coaker.

Stella Creasy	29.2
Tom Watson	29
Caroline Flint	15.7
Angela Eagle	10.7
Ben Bradshaw	10.2
Other	5.3

2274 voted in this week’s survey – thank you to everyone who took part. The result of the London Mayor question will be published later this morning.