Keir Starmer named new Labour leader in contest to replace Jeremy Corbyn
Sir Keir Starmer will replace Jeremy Corbyn as new Labour leader, it has been announced.
The shadow Brexit secretary has been voted into the top job after beating Wigan MP Lisa Nandy and shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey.
Sir Keir, who has long been the favourite to replace Mr Corbyn in the three-month leadership contest, was announced as the winner via email on Saturday.
Mr Corbyn announced that he would quit as Labour leader in December, after the party suffered its worst general election defeat since 1935.
The failed election bid followed years of faction fighting, accusations of institutional anti-Semitism and bitter divisions over Brexit.
The race to replace him began in January, but has latterly been overshadowed by the coronavirus crisis.
A planned “special conference” to announce the results had to be scrapped as the pandemic took hold in Britain.
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.
He then secured the support of more than a dozen affiliated organisations in the second stage.
Ballot papers were sent out in February to party members, members of affiliated trades unions and groups and 14,700 “registered supporters”.
Voting in the Labour leadership contest closed on Thursday.
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