With just a few days of voting to go, the leadership election is drawing to a close. On Saturday the coronation will take place in Manchester and opposition can begin. Well almost. On Sunday the new leader will wake, with a hang over, to the noise of 50 colleagues playing musical chairs with only 19 seats.
The shadow cabinet bun fight is well underway, hats have been thrown into rings. A flurry of letter writing, mass emailing, bulk texting, arm twisting, double crossing and general bad behaviour has already taken place. The three stand out letters so far have come from a talonted Maria, a brooding Tom and a thoughtful Eric.
It was the week that Ed M felt confident, David warned of heroic failures, Andy blamed his tools, Ed B wished the campaign was a little longer and Diane rocked the boat.
In case you missed them, here are Uncut’s best read pieces of the last seven days:
John Woodcock on why the new leader should bring back Peter Mandelson
Shadow cabinet elections are stupid enough without voting stupidly too, says Lesley Smith
Making childish noises at the unions is not the way to lead Labour, says Dan Hodges
As the cold war begins, so do the defections
We must make sure the country is with us on the union fightback, says Ruth Smeeth
We need a more sophisticated response to the big society, says Peter Watt
Blair was always the cynical grit in Labour’s oyster – which we still need, says Kevin Meagher