AT this stage in the game, I think most of us have made our minds up how we are going to vote in the leadership election. Some, I know, are not going to vote at all.
But I don't believe in paying £38 a year for the privilege of disenfranchising myself.
When the ballot papers arrive, I will cast my first preference for Diane Abbott and my second for Ed Miliband. and I will do so with no illusions whatsoever.
My vote for Abbott is to stop the left being humiliated. Her candidacy, however, was designed to ensure it.
An MP who had only two nominations after three weeks of campaigning was suddenly railroaded onto the ballot because of the real prospect of a credible left challenge.
As the grassroots clamour grew for John McDonnell to go on the ballot paper, so did Abbott's support in the PLP.
Mysteriously, people like Phil Woolas, Harriet Harman, Jack Straw appeared from nowhere and effectively - with the final vote from David Miliband - nailed a candidacy which they knew was no threat whatsoever to the status quo. And so it has proved.
At recent hustings, Abbott has agreed cuts have to be made (50 per cent rather than 60 per cent ) and ignored the socialist alternative of progressive taxation and nailing the tax dodgers .She has not impressed the grassroots outside London and many LRC members I know up here are simply cutting to the chase and backing Ed Miliband.
I will not do that.
Abbott's stance on Iraq, immigration and civil liberties distinguishes her from the rest
Buty had she really been interested in promoting the cause of Labour Left, she would have supported John McDonnell and done her best to get him on the ballot. He withdrew with dignity. The truth is he would not have had to withdraw at all if she had not stood at the eleventh-hour.
I don't think the Labour left will gain much in the long-term once the ballot papers have been counted. Those in the PLP who aided her appearance on the ballot will actually vote for others. The big trade unions have already swung behind Ed Miliband.
Reluctantly she will get my first preference. But don't expect me to be a cheerleader .
As LRC Secretary Andrew Fisher explains in this article, it could all have been so much better.
And once the contest is over, and Abbott is back on the sofa with Portillo, we will have to keep arguing the case for a real left alternative.
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