Ed Miliband leans left
“Ed Miliband has delivered the most personal speech of the Labour leadership election, coming clean about his early life and political inspirations. The speech also marks out clear territory on the left of the party where he will base his campaign, with demands for a limit on the gap between rich and poor and rules on pay differentials in the private sector.” – Politics.co.uk
“FAT cat bosses in the private sector should have their salaries pegged back to tackle inequalities in British society, Labour leadership contender Ed Miliband has argued.
A Government plan to ban public sector bosses from getting paid more than 20 times the salary of their lowest paid employee should be extended to the private sector, he said in an interview with the Yorkshire Post.” – The Yorkshire Post
“The government must do more to reduce the pay gap between rich and poor, Labour leadership contender Ed Miliband has said. He called for the coalition’s public sector High Pay Commission to widen its scope to look at the private sector, saying wage differences were “high”.” – The BBC
“I came away from my meeting with Ed feeling inspired and excited. He has the personality, passion and drive that is needed to make an excellent Labour leader and Prime Minister. It is common for politicians to talk about “listening to the voters”, but I’m not sure we always hear what they are trying to tell us. I am confident that Ed is someone who doesn’t just listen, but really hears voters concerns. And acts on those concerns.” – Rachel Reeves MP, Yorkshire Post
It’s all about Abbott
“She’s big, she’s cheerful, she’s brave, she’s solid. She’s eloquent. She has a natural grasp of oratory and conversational rhetoric. She says things in such a way that people like to listen to her. Her virtues come from her background and experience of life. Where three of her opponents were born into the upper reaches of their societies (Ed Balls even spent some time at Eton), her parents were working class immigrants, and she came up through a grammar school and the glory of Cambridge education.” – The Independent
“Describing her victory, Operation Black Vote (OBV) director, Simon Woolley said: “This is truly a great day. Achieving the nomination is one thing, but doing so when the vast majority say you don’t stand a chance, demonstrates self-belief and a dynamism that few people in the world have. Diane’s achievement will undoubtedly inspire a generation of black men and women to become leaders.”” – Hackney Hive
“What is sad is that due to the way she has fought this campaign, Abbott let herself down. She is a great performer and by all accounts was the star of the Labour leadership hustings last night in Westminster. But in her eagerness to secure a position in the race she played to the gallery and overstated the gender and race aspects of her nomination and by doing so, undermined her own position.” – The Guardian
“Labour’s leadership race was in turmoil last night as David Miliband was accused of trying to undermine his brother’s chances of winning by backing Left-winger Diane Abbott […] Miss Abbott, the first black woman MP, is expected to suck support from Mr Miliband’s brother, former Energy Secretary Ed, and former Schools Secretary Ed Balls.” – The Daily Mail
“The unexpected heat in their exchanges followed David Miliband’s decision to help Diane Abbott, a left-wing MP, get the nominations needed for her name to appear on the ballot paper. Securing her entry into the race may squeeze Ed Miliband’s support among radical sections of the Labour electoral college and the Shadow Energy Secretary appears to have been at pains to distance himself from his older brother.” – The Times
From the mail bag
“Although I welcome Diane Abbott‘s candidature as a different type of candidate to the other four, her voting record and hypocritical action over sending her son to a private school means she cannot be considered an authentic candidate of the party’s left wing. It was a little galling to see so many MPs make 11th-hour decisions to nominate Abbott to get a woman on the ballot paper while knowing that, at the same time, they were excluding the only candidate who represented the socialist tradition of the Labour party.” – The Guardian
Tags: Abbott, Andy Burnham, Coalition, David Miliband, Diane Abbott, Ed Balls, Ed Miliband, Future of Labour, Labour, Labour leadership, Labour Party, leadership
