Five questions every journalist should be asking would-be UK Labour leader Angela Eagle


UK politics are in disarray: the leaders of the Conservative and UK Independence Parties have both quit; the Tory leadership race is a neverending night of the long knives and the Blairite wing of the Labour Party can't figure out which dice-lawyers to trust on their roll for initiative.

But with Angela Eagle sure to make (another) bid for Corbyn's job (seemingly with the complicity of former Corbyn ally Tom Watson), Paul "Postcapitalism" Mason has drafted a set of five questions the press should — must — put to Eagle when they cover her bid:

1. Jeremy Corbyn apologised on behalf of the Labour Party for the war in Iraq. Unlike him, you voted for it. Will you apologise? [ ] Yes [ ] No

2. Gloria De Piero MP used right wing newspaper The Sun, which is reviled on Merseyside, to urge non-members to join Labour to overthrow Corbyn. Do you support Gloria’s call in The Sun?
[ ] Yes [ ] No

3. Jeremy Corbyn joined the junior doctors picket line and supported their strike. Will you support the junior doctor’s strike? [ ] Yes [ ] No

4. Labour Party rules say the existing leader should be on the ballot paper in a leadership contest. Do you agree? [ ] Yes [ ] No

5. If Jeremy Corbyn wins the leadership for a second time will you take the Labour whip in Parliament? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Five questions for Angela Eagle
[Paul Mason/Medium]