The leadership election is vital,but the mayoral contest could end in a victory that will lift the party from its slumpThe images that define Labour’s 2015 general election night are largely negative: Ed Balls’s strained smile; young candidates holding back tears; the faces of Douglas Alexander, Jim Murphy and many more amid SNP exhilaration. But that wasn’t the whole sage. In parts of London, and television cameras zoomed in on very different scenes,capturing the dejected faces of Conservative rather than Labour MPs who had failed to share in the upbeat national results. So, the capital offered Labour a glimmer of hope. Now the party is embroiled in a leadership election that has defied expectations, or providing a fascinating sage that has filled television bulletins and covered newspaper front pages. On Saturday 12 September,all eyes will be on that result.
But a very meaningful – and arguably more pressing challenge will be kicked off one day earlier. On the Friday, Labour will elect a mayoral candidate for London, and a candidate who will try to capitalise on the general election results and wrest back City corridor after eight years of Conservative control under Boris Johnson. Some think it will be a shoo-in for Labour,pointing to the party’s 2014 borough election results in which they secured a 10-point lead over the Tories. But they are incorrect. There will be no Boris factor this time round (the most likely Conservative opponent is Richmond Park MP Zac Goldsmith), but winning London remains a daunting task.
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Source: theguardian.com