"Aw ma, but WE wanted to do it"
Milimum backs Abbott
Ed Miliband said his mother Marion would be supporting rank outsider Diane Abbott in the leadership battle, which concludes next month. Currently David is favourite to win the leadership, although some suggest his younger brother Ed could pip him at the finish with the support of Labour voters’ second preferences. – Telegraph.
Abbott talks cash
Leadership candidate Diane Abbott has claimed the New Labour brand is contaminated and voiced fears over the influence of money on the contest. She said New Labour was “pretty much contaminated” as she claimed David Miliband was the Blairite candidate, backed by money from big donors sympathetic to that wing of the party. Talking about the relative election campaigns, she said: “It is odd that David Miliband has £400,000 and I have £5,000. He’s got the big Blairite money and the big Blairite backers – Scotsman.
New leader powers
Labour’s new leader will be able to hire and fire his or her shadow cabinet under radical reforms drawn up by the former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett. After the summer recess the Parliamentary Labour Party will be balloted on a series of measures handing far greater power to whoever is elected leader three weeks later. – Independent.
Mail on memoirs
Tony Blair will cash in on his experience as Prime Minister by flogging a special edition of his memoirs at a wallet-busting £150.
The red cloth-bound, slip-cased publication of A Journey resembles a Bible or hymn book and bears the signature of the former PM, who was often compared to a vicar for his preachy tone. – Mail.
Age factor still facing Ken
Ken
His rival for the nomination, Oona King, is of the same generation as Ed Balls and the Miliband brothers, whereas Livingstone is at least 20 years older than the next Labour leader, whoever he may be. If he wins the Labour nomination, he will be running for Mayor at the age of 66, and if he wins that, he will be nearly 71 when his term of office ends. – Independent.
Cable
There has been much speculation that frugality is the only feature of this government Cable will find to his taste. Perceived as the Lib Dem furthest to the left – a former Labour party councillor and parliamentary candidate, the man Gordon Brown phoned in the frantic post-election days – Cable is widely tipped as the minister most likely to resign from the coalition. He made no secret of his preference for forming a government with Labour – but was forced by the arithmetic of the election result to abandon that dream, “and follow my head, not my heart”. – Guardian
Tags: Ken Livingstone, Labour, Labour leadership, Vince Cable
