Sir Keir Starmer was today named the new leader of the Labour Party as its members comprehensively backed a break with the politics of five disastrous years under Jeremy Corbyn.
Sir Keir, 57, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, overwhelmingly saw off the challenge of the Corbynite continuity candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey, who was backed by Mr Corbyn’s closest allies.
The Labour Party revealed the St Pancras and Holborn MP won with 56.2 per cent of the vote.
He won after a single round of voting, giving him a powerful mandate for his leadership. Ms Long-Bailey took 27.6 per cent and outsider Lisa Nandy 16.2 per cent.
The scale of the more moderate shadow Brexit secretary’s victory in a vote by the party’s 600,000 members shows a clear desire for change after the party’s horrific mauling in last year’s general election.
Mr Corbyn, 70, announced that he would quit as Labour leader in December, after the party suffered its worst election defeat since 1935 – following years of factional in-fighting, accusations of institutional anti-Semitism and bitter divisions over Brexit.
He handed Boris Johnson an 80-seat majority, including a swathe of formerly ‘red wall’ seats in the north of England and the Midlands which had never had a Tory MP before.
The announcement this morning was due to be made in a special conference in front of a mass audience. But due to coronavirus it was replaced with a simple email announcement with a pre-recorded victory message from the winner.
In a message posted online Sir Keir said: ‘It’s the honour and privilege of my life to be elected as Leader of the Labour Party.
‘I will lead this great party into a new era, with confidence and hope, so that when the time comes, we can serve our country again – in government.’
Angela Rayner was voted deputy leader, after also being the long-term favourite to take the post.
Mr Starmer leaving his London home today after being elected Labour Party leader in place of Jeremy Corbyn
Sir Keir, 57, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, overwhelmingly saw off the challenge of the Corbynite continuity candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey
Mr Corbyn, 70, announced that he would quit as Labour leader in December, after the party suffered its worst election defeat since 1935
Sir Keir also immediately turned his attention to coronavirus, pledging to act as a responsible opposition leader.
‘It’s a huge responsibility and whether we voted for this Government or not, we all rely on it to get this right,’ he said.
‘That’s why in the national interest the Labour Party will play its full part.
‘Under my leadership we will engage constructively with the Government, not opposition for opposition’s sake.
‘Not scoring party political points or making impossible demands. But with the courage to support where that’s the right thing to do.
‘But we will test the arguments that are put forward. We will shine a torch on critical issues and where we see mistakes or faltering government or things not happening as quickly as they should we’ll challenge that and call that out.’
Sir Keir has led the race from the start, winning the backing of 89 members of the parliamentary party in the first round of the contest, before securing the support of more than a dozen affiliated organisations in the second stage.
Ballot papers were sent out in late February to party members, members of affiliated trades unions and groups and 14,700 ‘registered supporters’ who paid £25 to take part on a one-off basis.
Voting closed on Thursday and bookies had him as the 100/1 winner when they closed.
In his video address the the party he prasied Mr Corbyn but lashed out at the anti-Semitism that thrived under his leadership.
‘I want to pay tribute to Jeremy Corbyn, who led our party through some really difficult times, who energised our movement and who’s a friend as well as a colleague,’ Sir Keir said.
‘And to all of our members, supporters and affiliates I say this: whether you voted for me or not I will represent you, I will listen to you and I will bring our party together.
‘But we have to face the future with honesty.
‘Anti-Semitism has been a stain on our party. I have seen the grief that it’s brought to so many Jewish communities.
On behalf of the Labour Party, I am sorry.
And I will tear out this poison by its roots and judge success by the return of Jewish members and those who felt that they could no longer support us.’
Defeated leadership candidate Ms Long-Bailey wrote on Facebook: ‘I want to pay tribute to Keir and to Lisa and their respective teams, who each led fantastic campaigns.
‘Keir Starmer will be a brilliant prime minister and I can’t wait to see him in Number 10.
‘I will do all I can to make that a reality and to ensure the Labour Party gets into government with a transformative agenda at the next election.
‘We live in extraordinary and uncertain times, and it is now up to all of us to support Keir as best we can.’
When Jeremy Corbyn signalled the start of the Labour leadership contest with his resignation in December, the challenges facing his successor seemed clear enough.
The party had gone down to its worst general election defeat since 1935 after years of faction fighting, accusations of institutional anti-Semitism and bitter divisions over Brexit.
Seats which had been Labour for generations turned blue as the party’s hitherto impregnable ‘red wall’, running through the North, the Midlands and Wales, crumbled in the face of the Tories’ advance.
Then the task had been somehow to emerge from the wreckage and rebuild a credible position that would at least given them some sort of fighting chance of wresting power away from the Boris Johnson and the Conservatives at the next election.
Since then, of course, all that has changed with the emergence of the coronavirus from Wuhan in China, causing havoc around the planet, turning upside down all conventional expectations of what might lie ahead.
In this frightening new world the Labour leadership contest, which was already struggling to ignite interest among a weary public, worn down by endless wrangling over Brexit, has been in danger of looking like an irrelevant sideshow.
So the first challenge for the new leader may well be to establish a clear voice on the one overwhelming issue of the day.
At a time of national emergency, he or she will have to decide how far they need to stand with the Government, while at the same time ensuring ministers are properly held to account.
Striking the right tone and balance will be crucial in establishing their credentials with voters as a potential prime minister-in-waiting.
But that does not mean the other issues facing the party will have gone away.
First and foremost will be the need to reconnect with voters in their traditional heartlands who turned to the Conservatives at the election – not least because of Europe.
While Labour activists were overwhelmingly pro-Remain, they found themselves out of step with many working class voters who rallied to Boris Johnson’s call to ‘get Brexit done’.
At the same time there was profound suspicion of Mr Corbyn’s left wing policy agenda and past links with Irish republicans and organisations like Hamas.
The new leader will have to establish a credible economic policy framework in a world unrecognisable from the one in which the last election was fought.
While Mr Corbyn was criticised for his high-spending programme of mass renationalisation it is a Tory government which has now mounted an unprecedented state intervention to stave off economic collapse.
Sir Keir defeated Rebecca Long-Bailey (left) and Lisa Nandy (right) in the leadership vote when the result was announced today
Where that leaves Labour in the months and years ahead will be a key question for his successor.
Meanwhile the new leader can also expect to come under pressure to show they are dealing with the accusations of anti-Semitism which have dogged the party under Mr Corbyn.
With all three candidates having acknowledged the party had been too slow to act, how the winner deals with the issue is likely to be seen as an early litmus test of the new regime.
Finally, there is the question of whether, after five years of fierce faction fighting, whether they can finally heal the rifts and bring the party together.