Alan Johnson sounded off in The Guardian on the 5th August 2015. “Johnson: end madness and elect Cooper” by Nicholas Watt. The problem is the Labour leadership candidates have failed spectacularly to position themselves in the minds of Labour Party members. The exception is Corbyn who has positioned himself in the minds of those Labour Party members who cannot do the arithmetic required to enact his rag bag of “popular” policies.
Furthermore the crucial point is that candidates have to position themselves not only in the minds of Labour Party members but the electorate at large to win the next election. On the available evidence to date they are failing to do that due to an utter lack of vision and coherent costed policies. All of them need to pull their fingers out.
A crucial part of that vision is a reform of the Labour Party bounded by the rationality of the past. Without serious and imaginative reform it is destined for the political wilderness for years to come which does not help the people they are supposed to serve. We do not need old Labour or New Labour but 21st century Labour.