BLOOD BROTHERS

To say I'm angry is putting it mildly. While the ConDems cut fuel allowance, tax credits, welfare benefits and come out with the most reactionary Budget in decades we poor souls in the Labour Party witness the spectacle of a Labour leadership contest which has become a farce.
Remember all that hooey about it being a pluralist contest which would give everyone a chance to vote for candidates of all shades of opinion.
We might as well have cut to the chase three months ago because from beginning to end it has beena two-horse race.
The latest twist in this endless saga is that "leading left winger" Jon Cruddas has come out for David Miliband. The very same Jon Cruddas once touted as a future left-of-centre leader.
Now returned, strangely to the Blairite fold.
It beggars belief that anyone allegedly left-of-centre in the Party would back a candidate who wants more of the same policies which have consigned Labour to opposition. The same policies which will give Cameron a landslide at the next election because there is nothing whatsoever to distinguish David Miliband from CamClegg .
What is even more cynical is that it was Cruddas who enabled Diane Abbott to get on the ballot. Likewise David Miliband . Left cover for both while, obviously, the game was to deliver another Blairite leader.
Now you know and I know there is very little to distinguish any of the candidates who have a hope of winning from each other.
That said, a victory for David Miliband will be, symbolically, a disaster for all of us who want some semblance of change. So, like most people I know my second preference will go to Ed Miliband.
What angers me most of all is that the left were denied a chance to vote for the candidate of their choice - and have a real debate with a credible contender
These Machiavellian right-wingers not only denied John McDonnell the chance to get on the ballot, they are trying to ensure we have Blair Mark Two. UNITE has answered Cruddas's call by urging members and trade unionists to vote for Ed Miliband. They are right to do so.
But Jon Cruddas has blown whaetver left credentials he had ( and I never thought he had any anyway) right out of the water. Hobson's choice - but sadly our only one if we want to rescue Labour .