Friday News Review

Backers revealed

David Miliband‘s leadership donations came from less high-profile names, with £50,000 donated by the PR man Anthony Bailey, £10,000 from the businessman Gulam Noon, £25,000 from the Usdaw union and nearly £23,000 from the businessman Lord Sainsbury. He received the most of any candidates in July – £138,835.12 – and has received the most overall with a total of £277,000, plus £47,100.33 in non-cash donations. – The Guardian

Liverpool and England centre half Jamie Carragher is throwing his cash behind Evertonian, Andy Burnham’s Labour leadership campaign. Carragher, who is known for his action on the grass roots of Anfield, rather than grass roots politics, added a £10,000 cash donation to Burnham’s war chest, figures released by the electoral commission showed today. – Liverpool Click 

Ken Follett, the millionaire thriller writer, has lavished £100,000 of his fortune on the apparently doomed campaign by Ed Balls to become Labour leader.The six-figure donation will give fresh impetus to the shadow Education Secretary’s attempt to succeed his political mentor Gordon Brown. Despite putting up a spirited fight, Mr Balls seems to be lagging behind David and Ed Miliband in the battle for the Labour crown. – The Independent 

Next stop Norwich

 The glare of the national spotlight will fall on the city next month when the Sky News TV cameras roll into Norwich for a televised debate between the contenders hoping to succeed Gordon Brown as Labour leader.
The debate, which will be broadcast live from the Open youth venue in the centre of Norwich, will feature all five MPs hoping to become leader of the party – Diane Abbott, Norwich-born Ed Balls, Andy Burnham, David Miliband and Ed Miliband. – Norwich Evening News

Jimmy Reid: the legacy

It is not often in leftwing politics that one comes across someone who really appears to have it all. But that was how Jimmy Reid, the Scottish trade unionist who died on Tuesday, seemed once. Reid had the background, the brains, the ability, the vision, the charisma to have been one of the great leftwing political leaders of modern Britain. In some ways, this is what he actually was, especially in the early 1970s. – The Guardian

The class of 2010

Labour neophytes are showing similar independence, as was evident when Lisa Nandy, the new MP for Wigan, grilled Ed Balls during an education select committee hearing recently. With an aplomb uncharacteristic of a new MP, she told the Labour leadership contender: “I’m sorry to interrupt again, but I think you are not quite understanding the question, so I’ll ask it again.” While Ms Nandy has undoubtedly impressed, she narrowly missed a place on the FT’s list of new MPs to watch, which is based purely on performance since the election. It omits some previously hotly tipped names such as Chuka Umunna, the Labour MP for Streatham, who is already labouring under the label of the “British Obama”, and Rory Stewart, the former diplomat turned Tory MP because they have yet to make as strong an impression in the chamber. – The FT


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