John McDonnell calls for shorter Labour leadership elections calling current race ‘interminable’

John McDonnell has called for shorter Labour leadership elections in the future, describing the current contest as a “bit interminable”.



The Shadow Chancellor made the comments in the wake of criticism that the race to replace Jeremy Corbyn is going on for too long.

Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show he admitted Labour were finding it difficult to properly scrutinise the government while their own leadership remains up in the air.

Asked if they were failing to provide proper opposition to the Tories, Mr McDonnell said: “I think we are doing our best in providing opposition.

"But I agree, if there is a lesson for the future, let’s have shorter leadership elections.

“Hopefully we won’t need another one for a while, but let’s learn that lesson.”

After Mr Corbyn revealed he was stepping down in the wake of Labour’s disastrous performance at December’s election, the quest to elect his replacement has been dominating the party.

Nominations opened on 7 January, but the new leader will not be announced until 4 April, with Mr McDonnell admitting the contest has “seemed a bit interminable”.

Shadow Brexit Secretary Kier Starmer is comfortably the favourite to win the race, ahead of Rebecca Long-Bailey who the Shadow Chancellor is backing.

The third candidate in the race, Lisa Nandy, has written to Labour’s general secretary Jennie Formby about the conduct of the leadership contest after controversy about missing ballot papers.

Several campaigns have suggested those affected are mainly the 100,000 new members who joined Labour since the election defeat in December.

The party’s former deputy leader Dame Margaret Beckett, who sits on Labour’s national executive committee, told the Observer she was mystified by the delays.

“I know of people both in my family and my constituency who have not had their ballot papers – and this is inexplicable, in that some of these people have been party members for more than 50 years,” she said.

Ms Nandy has also suggested Labour “lags shamefully behind” other parties by not electing a female leader.

Writing in LabourList she said: “Our country has twice elected a women into Number 10.

“But Labour – still without a woman leader in our 120-year history – lags shamefully behind.

“On International Women’s Day, we have an opportunity to celebrate the women who have created and shaped our movement, and reflect on how much further we still have to go.”