Labour Leadership Update

I have tried to stay interested in the Labour leadership contest, but it is so bland (at least so far) that it is a struggle to find any enthusiasm. I have been watching the news develop almost daily, but there is nothing very exciting about it, with the only real "novelty factor" being the late entry of Diane Abbott to the fray.

Admittedly, it is still at the "seeking nominations" stage, with each contender needing to obtain the support of 33 other Labour MPs. The front page of Labour's website shows how many of those 33 each of the six contenders has so far secured. As of this evening, only Ed Miliband has reached the magic number and is therefore nominated.

The only other anywhere near being similarly nominated is Ed's brother David, with the support of 19 MPs. Ed Balls has only four, Andy Burnham just one, and Diane Abbott and John McDonnell both have yet to get anyone to sign up to their respective nominations. It is now less of a surprise that the party extended its closing date (to 9 June): it had to if it was to have much chance of an actual contest this time.

Iain Martin reminds us that Labour don't often have such contests, most of their replacement leaders having been crowned without a battle during the past quarter of a century or so. He also suggests that this is perhaps why the party and its "six in the mix" aren't really setting the public interest alight, as they don't have much idea of how to handle this unusual (for them) situation.

Despite a lot of (sometimes fawning) commentary from Labour-friendly media outlets, it just isn't happening. Politics Home referred to the older Miliband as (just) "David" in at least two of its recent front page headlines, for example, while trying to promote the contest as an important news item, while the rest of us when seeing the name expected (and wanted) it to refer to David Cameron, for far more important and significant news. But no: at the Left-favouring Politics Home, the new Prime Minister is referred to merely as "Cameron"...

Perhaps if at least three of these six do meet the 33 nominations target by the (extended) deadline, and we have a real contest on our hands, it could become interesting. To do so, those in that race will have to be more than just Eds and Milibands, and they are going to have to bring real messages and a new outlook to the party and the public at large.

As Iain Martin wrote in the article I linked to above, they are going to have to present a non-Brownite face if they are to have any hope of being convincing as the leader of a party that ever plans to hold the reins of power again. UPDATE at 1300: even renowned blogging Labour MP Tom Harris is making much the same point.

Thus far, there has been not even a whiff of any such fresh approach: all that has emerged to date has been essentially a "more of the same" overall policy line, and that will gte them precisely nowhere with a now-alert and wiser electorate.

UPDATE at 1100: Guido has news of a letter from John McDonnell to the other five declared contenders, as well as a disclosure about how Miliband E's campaign team is operating:

"Miliband minor’s campaign are bad-mouthing Ed Balls and Andy Burnham to MPs and saying it’s a two horse race and nominating either of those two will hurt their careers in the long term when he wins."

Now that's what I call coercion...