Tuesday 8th June 2010

Caught up in World Cup fever, I seem to have neglected the politics scene on here recently so thought I would look at the state of the Labour leadership contest before going back into football mode.
This time tomorrow we will know if Dianne Abbott, Andy Burnham and John McDonnell will join Ed Balls, David Miliband and Ed Miliband in the scheduled leadership hustings before voting opens in August.
At the moment former Health Secretary Andy Burnham is best placed to be the fourth candidate in the contest, as he needs just seven more MPs to nominate him before 12:30pm tomorrow, whilst Abbott and McDonnell both significantly trail.
Supporters of Abbott have suggested McDonnell should stand aside so that there is a better chance of someone representing the left making it onto the ballot paper and there is now increasing pressure on the MP for Hayes and Harlington after he made a distasteful comment about Margaret Thatcher at a GMB husting yesterday, joking that if he could go back in time to 1980 he would assassinate the former Conservative Prime Minister.
Whilst I am unlikely to support either Abbott or McDonnell if they secure enough nominations I would still like to see one of them taking part in the debates. This leadership contest may well determine who is the next Labour Prime Minister, so it is important party members from across the spectrum have a chance to vote for their preferred candidate, otherwise there is a real of risk alienating sections of support.
It is also a chance to show that Labour are a much more diverse party than the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. When David Cameron and Nick Clegg were chosen as leaders of their parties in 2005 and 2007 respectively they were up against other white middle class men. I don't hugely agree with Diane Abbott's politics and most Labour members I have spoken to aren't very impressed with her, but at a time when women's participation in politics is a big talking point I think having her as part of the debate would legitimise the contest and the eventual winner can say they won a diverse campaign.
We only have to look at the last proper Labour leadership election in 1994 when Tony Blair won ahead of Magaret Beckett and John Prescott, all three candidates had their differences and represented their own sections of the party.
There are a few MPs who are yet to nominate a candidate and I hope that they will lend a hand to either McDonnell or Abbott before tomorrow's deadline to make this a real contest.