The other day David Miliband was quoted as desiring " the more the merrier" in the leadership contest. And thousands of grassroots members and trade unionists - from the Fabians to the FBU- have expressed their wish all six should be there.
Today, the actual truth is revealed - if any of the other three make it to 32 he will, in great magnanimity, give them his vote.
With nearly 70 nominations from the PLP. Miliband senior has no need of any more support.
The sad fact is he has ignored the wise counsel that a full and free debate is the one Party members want. If we end up with only three or four) on a ballot thanks to a system deliberately designed to keep the left out and if MPs veto the candidates many of us want to then there will be widespread anger and much incredulity that one so allegedly gifted and politiically savvy can be so stupid and short-sighted.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jun/02/miliband-nominee-leadership-ballot-labour
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
ONE VOTE MILIBAND - THANKS FOR NOTHING
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2 comments:
Like it or not, many MP's want to be seen to support a candidate they think might win. I'm not sure what to do about that. You can't make an MP nominate someone. This is why multiple nominations would have made sense, but as ever the left went down an alleyway with a dead end in trying to remove the threshold.
To be fair Mike, a whole range of approaches have been attempted. I pushed for lowering the nomination threshold as there was a precedent a lower threshold (it was only put up in 1988) and it was getting broad support from way beyond the left (the idea of 5% - which seemed quite an ambitious target) came from the unlikely figure of Tom Harris! Multiple nominations would have been a much bigger change because the idea is new, but I agree it is preferable to the current situation.
I may have gone down an alleyway with a dead end (though I think it helped move the debate on, and it's not over yet) but "the left" did not: it has tried a range of methods.
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