Next Labour leader will 'ideally' be a woman, says Starmer

Labour needs a woman to become leader of the party, according to Keir Starmer.

Speaking during an interview on Times Radio, Starmer said that “ideally” his successor in the job would be a woman.

The party has never had a female leader in its history, while the Conservatives have had three Prime Ministers – Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May, and Liz Truss – and Scotland’s First Minister is SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon.

At Holyrood, Kezia Dugdale served as Scottish Labour leader between 2015 and 2017.

Ruth Davidson was leader of the Scottish Conservatives from 2011 until 2019.

Starmer acknowledged his shadow cabinet as he underlined the need for a woman to be leader of the party in future.

“We do need a female leader of the Labour Party,” Sir Keir told Times.

“I’ve got really powerful women around me – if you look at Rachel Reeves, Yvette Cooper, Angela Rayner, Lisa Nandy, Bridget Phillipson.

“But does the party need a woman leader? Yes, it does.”

Asked if his eventual successor should be a woman, he said: “Yes, ideally.

“We’ll have to see what the circumstances are, but I don’t think we should shy away from that challenge at all.”

Starmer also insisted he is “determined” that Labour is ready to enter government and that he has spoken with former Labour prime ministers in setting out his plans.

“I’ve been talking to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown for some time now,” he said.

“I’m conscious that we’ve been out of power for 12 years.

“That means I don’t have people around the shadow cabinet table who’ve got huge experience in government.

“So, I’m determined that we need to be ready to hit the ground running.”