THREAD: Here's my checklist for judging the Labour leadership candidates. 1/ They have to be from the left - there can be no going back to free market authoritarian politics... (full list below) 
2/ They voted against Brexit. Brexit is an attack on the working class, the welfare state and ethnic minorities. I want some one who consistently understood this, anyone saying Lexiteers were right doesn't get my vote...
3/ Accepts Brexit will happen and we have to move on... the size of the defeat means "rejoining" is not a left project. We need to defend European values, trade orientation, common standards and security co-operation - but we can't become the "rejoin" party...
4/ Has achieved something outside politics... this is high on my list now. All politicians seem remote to voters - I want someone whose comms skills and resilience are proven... and "of the 21st century"....
5/ Looks like they could handle being PM in a crisis... the global order is breaking up; we're under hybrid attack from Putin and the threat of terrorism; the climate chaos is approaching... someone who can listen to advice and take big decisions (ie not dither)....
6/ Can connect with working class people... self-evidently this was a problem for Corbyn. They don't have to be northern - though it would help: you just want a sense they could walk into a pub and care about what ordinary people wanted to talk about...
7/ Can rebuild trust with the Jewish community... by dealing unsentimentally and swiftly with any officials, members, groups and MPs who break the rules on anti-semitism, and displaying empathy for all sections of the community in a time of rising hatred...
8/ Will learn from social movements... We can't become a social movement, but we can build a network of them around us, and support them - if we learn to tolerate rather than suppress their creativity, indiscipline, horizontality etc...
9/ Will defend our radical economic/fiscal policy. No going back to privatisation, PFI, outsourcing, austerity - but forward to a deeper fiscal/monetary radicalism...
10/ Defend the Green New Deal strategy... I mean really defend it and sell it to working class communities, overcoming resistance from some sections of the union movement. Our massive support among young people cannot be traded away
11/ Will hire professionals and listen to them... this was a huge deficit in Corbyn's office (not McDonnell's) and damaged the ability of the Shadow Cabinet to make policy and decide strategy... learn from AOC/Bernie and hire the best strategists, organisers and pollsters...
12/ Defend the left against witch-hunts. That means acknowledging the massive role Momentum played and refusing to blame left activists, MP candidates, the unions etc...
13/ Voted/campaigned against Iraq war - a no-brainer but needs saying. We don't want a return to expeditionary and illegal warfare - we want a mature, left security and defence policy based on containing/combating real threats (ie Putin, right wing extremism and AQ/ISIS)
14/ Has proven commitment to human rights. There is a strong anti-humanism on the left, emanating both from Stalinism and postmodernism. Some left regimes and movements are dire on human rights and universalism - we should be exemplary...
15/ Can take down Johnson in Parliament. Our voters wanted to see this liar eviscerated. Corbyn couldn't do it. We need a fighter, with the gut instinct to expose Johnson and the Tories and land blow after blows credibility. It's not "presentation" - its the essence of the job
16/ Can fight right-wing populism at community level. That means taking the arguments against nativism and xenophobia into the heart of what we say and do - and not flinching where the left has to mobilise to stop fascists attacking minority communities...
17/ Has been in a trade union struggle... we're a party of the unions. Standing on picket lines and having unions at the centre of our conference is our tradition...
18/ Will embrace electoral/constitutional reform. Tribal Labourism is no use in this situation - we need to join with other progressive parties to rebalance the British constitution away from the power of elites...
19/ Has staked something personally to fight injustice. Corbyn did: he was hounded. Many women and BAME MPs are facing death threats. We need proof the candidates are committed to the movement and don't secretly want to be director of a big museum...
20/ Will build a balanced/diverse Shadow Cabinet. I urged Corbyn to bring senior centre-left figures into the SC... insecurity and bunker mentality prevented us utilising some of the best political brains in parliament. Learn the lesson...
21/ Will resign if their popularity rating falls below minus-30... We are now in a slander-rich environment and neoliberalism just discovered that slander amplified by social media and TV news wins elections. If you get damaged, you have to cut your losses...
22/ that's the list. I'll reserve judgement until we know who's actually standing. Not on the list is "must be continuity with Corbynism"... we're moving on. Here's my thoughts on why ....paulmason.org/wp-content/upl…
