Will Labourites elect a Blairite or Jeremey Corbyn?

After months of speculations, agitations for some and jubilation for others, we are only a few hours away from knowing who will become the next Labour leader.

Will it be a Blairite or Corbyn?

If it’s the former then it will be business as usual for the Labour Party and their supporters. The leader will be less left-wing than Miliband, most of the Parliamentary Labour Party will back him or her and the other three candidates will most likely each have a position in his/her Shadow Cabinet. He or she will work hard to occupy the centre ground and the opposition will agree with some of the government’s policies and disagree with others.

However, if Jeremy Corbyn is elected, the Labour Party and the country are in for a very rough ride. He is as far left as they come. So as a matter of principle he will oppose almost everything the government proposes, and call for most services to become public and tax anything under the sun. In other words, he will promise the moon and expect taxpayers to foot the bill. I expect he will struggle to put together a Cabinet, since many already indicated they won’t serve under him. But he will nonetheless continue to spread the Corbyn gospel of tax and spend.

All of that could be fun to watch, if as a nation we didn’t have a deficit to reduce, debts to repay, new homes to build and an influx of refugees to settle. Not to mention the global migration crisis our world is facing today. Someone like Corbyn, who takes being in opposition literally, can make things extremely difficult to run and manage.

Andy Burnham, who for most of this leadership race was the front runner, is a seasoned frontbench operator. But Corbynmania exposed him as the status quo candidate plus I’m sure his insane flip-flopping on issues didn’t help. Towards the end he appeared robotic and predictable with nothing new to offer. Some still feel he talks a great deal of sense and is the best person to lead Labour to victory in 2020. But many see him as a continuation of the past and the candidate who offers nothing new.

Yvette Copper on the other hand was slow off the blocks, yet she managed to push ahead steadily. Throughout this contest she showed stamina and resilience plus it seems in recent days she found her passion. But for some being Mrs Balls somehow works against her. Having said that, just as this contest is Corbyn’s to lose it is now Copper’s to win. A few weeks ago, when Corbynmania was at its peak, I asked The Sun Political Editor who he predicted will win and his answer was Yvette Copper will win it on the second ballot. If that happens, she will make history for her Party.

As for Liz Kendall, I am sorry, but her campaign never got off the starting blocks. It seems she was finished before she even started. However, as the newest MP of the four candidates she is in a good position for next time. In my opinion, the three things she should take from this race is to pace herself like Cooper, stay visible throughout like Burnham, but most of all be real and authentic like Corbyn and do it all with genuine passion.

Like Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn speaks human and does it from the heart. He is an ordinary approachable decent guy who answers all the questions asked, and does it without any airs and graces. Will he win? If he wins can he lead the party? Can he win a General Election? I don’t know. He probably can. I don’t think so. But what I do know for sure last general election, everybody predicted and expected one thing and the outcome was another thing altogether. Either way it’s not long to go now.