Labour Party leadership election 2015

[Meeker]

Labour could win back all their Scottish seats next election and still be close to 60 seats shy of a majority. It seems they need to figure out a way to win a lot more seats in England and Wales, especially outside of London. Bringing back their lost-to-UKIP supporters doesn't look like quite enough to do that (based on my very unscientific glance at the results in Con/Lab marginals).

The quality of the leader on TV and on his/her feet seems much more important than any sort of ideological inclinations they have. A bunch of people in England and Wales thought David Cameron was doing a good enough job, and a bunch of other people thought Ed Miliband would do an even worse job. Labour needs to find someone who projects more confidence and respect than Miliband, or wait until David Cameron loses popularity and/or exits the scene (and hope that stench passes on to Boris or Osborne or whomever).

I realize this horse is very dead, but I don't see how a disinterested observer could watch Miliband speak and think he has the strength or fortitude to lead people into political fights. He evokes a sense of pity more than anything else. I have no idea how the people mentioned thus far stack up on these qualities, and I understand there are internal politics of the party that cannot be ignored, but this seems like it must be a priority. "New Labour" was just a brand; Tony Blair was the product (and a really good one).