Crowdsourcing the leadership

Last week’s now legendary Andy Burnham interview completed our set of leadership interviews. Each of the brave candidates has now faced your questions in the Labour Uncut Crowdsourcing Hotseat (LUCH).

First up was Ed Balls. Amongst his challenges were physically fighting David Miliband and going to war with Russia. We got by far the most questions of all the interviewees for Ed B, many of which were not from Labour supporters. We got almost as many complaints from Labour supporters for not having a stricter comments policy. But we are looking for a prime minister, not just a Labour leader, and so the questions got asked.

The Labour Uncut Crowdsourcing Hotseat (LUCH)

The next to take on your questions was Diane Abbott. We interviewed Diane the night before nominations closed – and she was in defiant mood. She was completely unphased by the questions, which included her son’s private education, the demographic of her leadership opponents and how much she is paid by the BBC. She did, however, get a little bit diva when we tried to take her picture.

Next up was the first of the Milibrothers. David, as big bro, stepped up as the third leadership contender in the LUCH. He was bouncy and inquisitive, with a firm handshake and a busy office.  He even let us take his picture. In fact, he let us take quite a few. He answered your questions on votes at 16, the cuts to BSF, and set out his position on zombies.

Following close behind was Miliband Jnr. Ed faced questions on baseball, Babe Ruth, marriage equality, the nuclear industry, Clem Attlee and more. His office was buzzing, his team were youthful, and it was the most relaxed and giggle-filled interview of the lot.

Finally, Andy Burnham invited us round for a cuppa and an interview so honest and open it almost made us feel uncomfortable. He bounced ideas and questions off his team, got excited about music, got uncontrollable about football and gave pretty frank responses to everything else.

Just in case you missed them, here are the interviews in full:

The Ed Balls interview

The Diane Abbott interview

The David Miliband interview

The Ed Miliband interview

The Andy Burnham interview


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