40 seconds: Labour’s first party hustings and its “terrible” format

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If you still have these things called ‘weekends’, which have become strange and distant concepts for the LabourList team, there is a lot to catch up on. Rebecca Long-Bailey came out fighting on Friday evening, when she formally launched her leadership campaign in Manchester. It was a very slick affair, with screens displaying the #RLB2020 branding all over the venue, and her team was justifiably pleased with the event. She was relaxed, genuinely funny and had developed a new theme: ‘aspirational socialism’. Long-Bailey has had a remarkably slow start, which was starting to seriously affect the enthusiasm of her support base, as I noted in a morning email last week. But the in-fighting has died down and the campaign, boosted by the support of Momentum staff, is finally kicking into gear.

Emily Thornberry had a launch on Friday evening, too, which saw our reporter Elliot make a trip to Guildford. Unusual choice of location and a less than flashy venue, perhaps, but local party nominations from South East constituencies are just as valid – and they are there for the taking. It also allowed Thornberry, who has been mockingly called ‘Lady Nugee’ in the past, to tell members about her less-than-perfect childhood. As in the first official party hustings on Saturday, the Shadow Foreign Secretary had a clear message: I’m a “tough old bird”, and my fighting spirit is needed to beat Boris Johnson.

In Liverpool on Saturday, I joined the back-to-back leader and deputy leader hustings. As the candidate polling least well, Thornberry really went for it, while a confident Lisa Nandy seemed to impress audience members I spoke to afterwards who were keen to second-preference her. Long-Bailey cracked a couple of decent jokes, but the atmosphere was too flat for them to land unlike the previous evening. Playing it safe, Keir Starmer said nothing noteworthy other than his promise not to give an interview to The Sun – though that only applies during this leadership campaign, mind. (Of course, no Labour leadership candidate would ever appeal to The Sun while trying to attract votes from party members.)

Jess Phillips was awful. I can say that without being accused of bias because she literally wrote that herself in an extraordinary piece for The Guardian last night. The leadership hopeful said she was “trying to hit a million different lines and messages in 40 seconds”, and she thought the format was “terrible”. On that point, there is wide agreement. Given just 40 seconds to answer each question, with no interruptions allowed, it produced a stale discussion full of soundbites. Lisa Nandy has written to the party this morning calling for a change in the set-up, for which I am thankful – we have another dozen of these official hustings to go.

Further nominations have rolled in over the last few days. The left-wing bakers’ union, BFAWU, followed the Socialist Campaign Group line and backed Long-Bailey and Richard Burgon. This comes as little surprise. More significant, however, is that United Left – the left flank of Unite the Union – announced yesterday that it is also endorsing the further left slate, rather than the joint ticket with Angela Rayner. Unite itself could do the same when it meets on Friday, as United Left have a majority on its executive, though a well-placed source says Burgon was only endorsed over Rayner by one vote.

Before then, we also have Usdaw and GMB nominations. The former could give another boost to Starmer – who, having already gained UNISON and SERA, would then become the first to secure a place on the ballot paper – and the latter may choose Nandy, which would make the race a whole lot more interesting.

• Today: Usdaw set to nominate leadership candidates
• Tuesday: GMB set to nominate leadership candidates
• Wednesday: PMQs
• Friday: Unite set to nominate leadership candidates
• Saturday: Party hustings in Leeds
• Sunday: Open Labour hustings in Nottingham

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