No More Prime Minister For Me - Chuka Umunna Bows Out!!

So recently I did a profile on Chuka Umunna; the bright British-Nigerian leading up to lead the Labour Party with a good stance at PM. If you missed it, catch up here. Well, he pulled out of the race a couple of hours ago!!

He explained that he pulled out of the contest because the level of scrutiny he has experienced since declaring his candidacy has been greater than he had expected. "I continued to have very real concerns and worry about the bids impact on those close to me" he said. He was particularly upset that the press doorstepped his mother, his girlfriends parents and even her 102-year old grandmother!!

Now, that's so sad! And Nigerians already had high hopes!! Kenyan in the US and Nigerian in the UK!

The Economist had this to say:

Only a couple of hours ago Chuka Umunna was the bookies' favourite to be Britain's next leader of the opposition. Following the Labour Party's abysmal performance in the general election and Ed Miliband's resignation last Friday, the charismatic shadow business secretary had thrown his hat into the ring on Tuesday. It looked likely that he would receive the backing of the 35 MPs needed for nomination in his party's leadership contest; entirely possible, even, that he would win and lead the party into the 2020 election. But this morning he shocked Westminster by withdrawing from the contest.

In his statement, Mr Umunna explains that the level of scrutiny he has experienced since declaring his candidacy has been even greater than he had expected. "I continued to have very real concerns and worry about this bid’s impact on those close to me", he writes. Reporting on the announcement, Michael Crick of Channel 4 News tweeted: "Umunna was upset the press doorstepped not just his mother, but his girlfriend's parents and even her 102-year old grandmother."

The news is a major blow to Labour. Mr Umunna is his party's best communicator, by a very long way. Among the leadership contenders, he was probably the one who stood the best chance of prising Middle England out of the Conservative Party's grip. His emergent "pro worker, pro business" policy agenda—shifting public-service provision onto a more plural footing (including co-operatives and mutuals), boosting skills, reforming politics and massively decentralising Britain's top-heavy government—had the early makings of an answer to the vast, existential question that now confronts Labour: what is the point of social democracy in a time of tight budgets and accelerating globalisation? Shortly after today's announcement Jonathan Reynolds, a leading Ummuna-ite, tweeted that the MP for Streatham "would have been a transformational candidate who could have offered something big enough to meet the challenge ahead." The relief in the Tory camp this lunchtime is a testimony to Mr Umunna's abilities and appeal.

His withdrawal from the leadership race frees up air time and nominations for the two other main modernising contenders, Liz Kendall and Tristram Hunt (both of whom will now be scrambling for Mr Umunna's endorsement). But it is probably best news for the status-quo candidates, Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper, who—with the most articulate moderniser out of the running—now stand a better chance of framing the debate about Labour's future.

Mr Umunna is not the first promising candidate to decline the chance to go for the Labour leadership. On Monday Dan Jarvis, a former soldier hotly tipped for the job, announced that he would not do so. He too cited the challenges of reconciling the intense pressure and scrutiny that the job would entail with his personal and family commitments. Alan Johnson, a popular Labour grandee and former home secretary, has also ruled out a run. None of these men blames the media for his decision. But that three of Labour's brightest hopes have absented themselves from the front line of their party's debate about the future for this reason is worrying. British voters complain that politics is dominated by ruthless, careerist automatons. They clamour for authentic politicians with a semblance of a hinterland. Yet the country's public realm seems to leave very little room for such figures. And that is a terrible shame.