by Callum Anderson
Earlier this month, Labour decisively turned the page from the Corbyn era.
An eagerness to look to the future was the prevailing emotion for the many Labour activists and supporters, who had watched with varying degrees of resignation and despair as Labour crashed to its worst general election defeat since before the Second World War.
Yet we must not forget that Keir Starmer’s election as Labour leader can not be an end in itself. Rather, it must provide the Labour movement with a critical lifeline to change where change is needed, and rethink where rethinking is needed. We must all rally behind the new leadership to support this essential work.
As the new shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds will play a particularly key role in helping Labour earn back both the trust and the economic credibility that it so desperately lacked during the last decade.
Dodds is extremely well qualified. Despite an absence of executive experience, she served as a shadow treasury minister for the last two and half years. As an MEP, she sat on the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.
Nonetheless, her task is no small one.
Long regarded as one of the most difficult job in politics: a prospective chancellor must be able to understand and absorb economics, and articulate the Party position in a way which can command respect in Parliament, and is comprehensible to the person on the street, the small business owner and financial markets.
For the last decade, Labour’s achilles heal could be simply posed as a question: can it be trusted to prudently manage the public finances, while still delivering economic and social justice?
As we all remember, Messrs Miliband and Balls were never able to shrug off the (false) Conservative frequently claims that Labour profligacy had caused the 2007-8 financial crisis and had necessitated austerity.