Leadership campaigns progress on both sides of the House

AFTER apologising to Theresa May for her comments that she was better placed to be leader of the country because she has been a mother, Andrea Leadsom found that the high volume of criticism that she had suffered over the weekend meant that she decided not to continue with her fight to become Conservative leader, and pulled out of the race on July 11.

This leaves Mrs May as the only candidate to the leadership which was to have been decided by ballot by September 9 and it may well be that her appointment could be settled earlier if so decided by the 1922 committee of back bench conservative MPs.

They have the power to either declare Mrs May as the leader designate or they could order a re-run of the election which could be quite interesting as all of the pro-Brexit frontrunners either didn’t stand for election or soon dropped by the wayside.

Whist things are a little complicated on the Conservative side, things are also getting confused on the other side as former Energy Secretary Angela Eagle having announced that she would stand against Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader as she has lost confidence in him, finds herself facing a vote of no confidence from her constituency Labour Party as they support the current leader.

Meanwhile, Corbyn supporter and MP with many a choice phrase, Diane Abbott, told the BBC: “Angela Eagle is a perfectly nice woman but she is the Empire Strikes Back candidate. She voted for the Iraq war and more besides, and party members will be offered a clear political choice.”