Associate editor and columnist @financialtimes.com. Post too often about culture, public policy, management, politics, nerd stuff, Arsenal, wosoc. Wow! (center) Try my UK politics newsletter for free here: www.ft.com/tryinsidepoliticshttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mlobwdsly22aGood thread this, AKA I agree with it. The argument that party members make better or worse decisions than MPs is wrongheaded. The reason to let MPs pick the leader is that you do actually need to be able to command the parliamentary party to run the country, it's not an optional extra. [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 May 2026 17:12 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlobwdsly22ahttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mlob4n35hk2kBleakly funny and at the same time, rather scary just how unwitting this is. It's a *positive* piece! It chirpily trills 'why, yes, Jews giving plum jobs to other Jews, what do you expect. And what an inspired soundtrack we got as a result!' [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 May 2026 16:58 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlob4n35hk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mlo6smuen222Labour shouldn't have spent the last two years obsessing over which voters to target, but to make matters worse, they picked literally the silliest group to do it with. [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 May 2026 16:16 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlo6smuen222https://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mlo6m7jkz22mYo momma so old, Labour MPs speculate about her standing down to create a vacancy for Andy Burnham12 May 2026 16:13 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlo6m7jkz22mhttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mlo5y4d7bc2kAndy, like a lot of New Labour's bright young things, particularly on the Blairite side (as he was), has never really done the machine/organisational side bit himself, which is why we get this endless funny cycle of 'MPs speculate randomly about a seat - press runs it - MP denies it'. [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 May 2026 16:02 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlo5y4d7bc2khttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mlo4uvgfxc2jThinking I might become one of those single issue fanatics who stands against the Prime Minister dressed as an animal: Archibald the Aaadvark, campaigning for Robson Rotation to be introduced to British elections. [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 May 2026 15:42 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlo4uvgfxc2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mlo3slumik2yUpdate: Kemi’s green shoots of Conservative recovery [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 May 2026 15:23 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlo3slumik2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mlo3652jak2y👇One of the reasons why the Starmer era is The Way It Is, is there was until v recently a “seniority is decided by how many scars you have from the Corbyn era” attitude, which structurally advantages campaigners over policy wonks. Which means as Duncan says, Labour’s socdem tendency has got dumber. [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 May 2026 15:11 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlo3652jak2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mlnrob7qb22rI understand where Labour MPs on the “it’s too soon, best thing is for Keir to govern well and go in 2028” train are coming from. I used to think that myself. But the core problem is Keir won’t and can’t govern well. [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 May 2026 12:21 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlnrob7qb22rhttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mlnqhdqvrc2jThe most damning resignation letter yet, I think: [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 May 2026 12:00 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlnqhdqvrc2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mlnousvcrk2jI think it is easy to forget that while their vote is nowhere near as fungible demographically as Labour-LD is, and the Green vote is a touch less open to switching interchangeably than the Labour-LD, that a lot of the Green vote does see itself as left bloc still and this would, IMV play poorly. [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 May 2026 11:31 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlnousvcrk2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mlnmmt4r5s2jI'm not saying I'm easily pleased and unfunny but every time I see a chart of Sterling moves on the website I chuckle to myself 'I wish he'd been that mobile at Arsenal' and it brings me joy every time. Unlike Sterling.12 May 2026 10:51 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlnmmt4r5s2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mlnkm4bblk2kOne of my many metropolitan elite opinions is it is actually fine and good for people to go 'I don't know enough to judge but I would rather the PLP looked within itself and found a different candidate from a field of 400'. More people should, in fact. [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 May 2026 10:15 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlnkm4bblk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mlnhdeuy7c2kLabour MPs agree on the problem but not on who the solution, or when to apply it. That dynamic inherently favours the 'as soon as possible' group I think because at this stage you're just a zombie PM: https://www.ft.com/content/c7401569-e6eb-4d7f-a4f8-9f1895b885c6?syn-25a6b1a6=112 May 2026 09:16 +0000at://did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlnhdeuy7c2k