‘I’d quite like to see Queen Meghan at some point’: Labour hopeful Lisa Nandy says she would like to abolish the monarchy – but admits she wouldn’t mind if Prince Harry and Meghan Markle took the throne
- Lisa Nandy said that as a ‘democrat’ she would vote to abolish the UK monarchy
- Rival Rebecca Long-Bailey refuses to name a favourite former Labour leader
- Ms Long-Bailey also desperately tried to distance herself from Jeremy Corbyn
Labour leadership challenger Lisa Nandy has said she would vote to abolish the monarchy at a referendum while rival Rebecca Long-Bailey refused to name a former party leader she admired.
Ms Nandy told a televised hustings event last night that as a ‘democrat’ she would vote to ‘scrap’ the Royal family.
Meanwhile, Ms Long-Bailey declined to pick a favourite former leader of the Labour Party as she continued to try to distance herself from Jeremy Corbyn.
The shadow business secretary – who gave Mr Corbyn a ten out of ten rating for his leadership after he led the party to its worst election results since the 1930s – proclaimed: ‘There is no such thing as Corbynism.’
Lisa Nandy, pictured left during last night’s Channel 4 debate, said she would vote to scrap the monarchy while Rebecca Long-Bailey refused to name her favourite Labour leader of the past 50 years
Ms Nandy and Ms Long-Bailey are two of the final three candidates in the race to replace Mr Corbyn.
Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, is the third person still in the running and he is the overwhelming favourite to win the top job.
Ms Nandy risked derailing her campaign after she admitted she wanted to abolish the monarchy.
A YouGov poll published in May 2018 revealed that more than two thirds (69 per cent) of Britons consider themselves to be monarchists while just 21 per cent do not want a Royal family.
The trio of leadership rivals were asked at a Channel 4 Labour leadership debate how they would vote if there was a referendum on keeping the Royal family.
Ms Nandy replied: ‘I’m a democrat, so I would vote to scrap it. But this is not the priority of the country.’
She added: ‘I’d quite like to see Queen Meghan at some point.’
Sir Keir said he would not vote to scrap the monarchy but said he would ‘down size it’.
Ms Long-Bailey said ‘we have got more important things to worry about’ but insisted she ‘wouldn’t vote to abolish the monarchy’.
Meanwhile, the challengers were also asked to name their favourite Labour leader from the last 50 years.
Ms Nandy picked veteran Labour MP Barbara Castle and described her as the best leader Labour never had while Sir Keir opted for Harold Wilson who was PM in the 1960s and 1970s.
But Ms Long-Bailey declined to choose anyone. None of the trio mentioned Tony Blair, Labour’s most electorally successful leader, or Mr Corbyn.
Ms Long-Bailey has the backing of the current party leadership in the race to succeed Mr Corbyn.
Sir Keir Starmer, pictured during last night’s Channel 4 debate, said he would not scrap the Royal family but called for it to be downsized
But she has repeatedly insisted she is not the ‘continuity Corbyn’ candidate despite her long-standing backing for the incumbent and her commitment to continuing with his policies.
Last night she again tried to put open water between her and Mr Corbyn as she claimed ‘Corbynism’ does not exist.
She said: ‘There is no such thing as Corbynism. There is our Labour values.
‘If we believe in building more council homes, investing in our futures through education and industrial strategy – that’s socialism. That’s not Corbynism and we shouldn’t throw away those policies.’
Voting in the Labour leadership contest starts on February 24 and stops on April 2 with a winner due to be announced on April 4.