So Gordon Brown has now bowed to the inevitable, and after all the indignity and humiliations heaped on him by a poisonous right-wing press and hostile polls, we should respect both his past resilience against all the odds and now the dignity of his going.   It was clearly the right decision to stand down to pave the way for the root-and-branch renewal of Labour which is now so urgently needed.

The election result however wasn’t a judgement on a single individual, but rather on the collective failure of New Labour over bank reform, privatisation of public services, and the ballooning of inequality which shames our society.   A social partnership economy is now needed which embraces the working class as well as Middle England, and a new Labour leader is needed who can deliver that.

Alarmingly there is talk of using an abstruse provision in the Labour Party Rule Book to precipitate an almost immediate election of a new Leader by the Cabinet, and the lengthy presence of Mandelson and Campbell inside No.10 has only served to spread the concern.   The rule states that when Labour is in government, the ‘permanent unavailability’ of the Leader/Prime Minister can be resolved by election from among their number by the Cabinet.   That clearly relates however to such contingencies as a fatal accident, a debilitating illness, or mental or nervous breakdown.   It is not designed for eventualities like the present one where Brown has said he will temporarily remain in position until a new leader is elected before Conference in September.

Any attempt to foist a new Leader on the party without due process of election legitimised by the CLPs, trade unions and PLP would hideously backfire.   The proper acceptable procedure would be for the NEC urgently to draw up a timetable for nominations, hustings and election before the parliamentary recess in the third week of July.   That is a matter I intend to raise if necessary at the first PLP meeting of this new Parliament at 2.30pm this Wednesday.   That scenario would then allow the party to begin the thorough review of its fundamental policy stance in the post-neoliberal world we now live in and to choose its new Leader accordingly.

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