NANDY ENTERS THE FRAY

Wigan MP Lisa Nandy has become the fourth to officially declare she is running for the Labour leadership.  Her announcement came in the immediate afterglow of Jess Phillips' blaze of publicity on Friday, almost as if she wanted a low-key entrance.  While Phillips went national, Nandy went local and announced her intention in her local rag.  Is she serious about running?  What's her game?  Will she get the nominations required to run?  Many questions, but the bookies rate her chances over much of the shower either declared or expected to run.  Despite coming last in the recent YouGov poll of Labour members, she is currently running third at most bookies behind the favourites Starmer and Long-Bailey.

Nandy is the first northerner to run (Long-Bailey has yet to declare) and is also the least pro-Remain of all those either declared or considering.  She's been at Westminster longer than most of her potential rivals and is not gaffe-prone like some of them.  The fact that she is polling last, behind even the moron Thornberry, says so much about the current Labour membership.