Where is the Opposition?

Darling warns of the danger of slash & burn - but where are the leadership candidates on the Economy?

“Labour needs to choose whether to oppose coalition cuts because it disapproves of the targets or because it disagrees with the fundamental need for a smaller state. If the latter, it needs a plan for delivering a wide range of services at lower cost. It needs a persuasive defence of the strategic function of government in sponsoring growth and policies to match.” – The Observer

“I am proud of the Labour government’s record in returning the economy to growth. Of the action we took to prevent recession turning into depression. The Tories want us to forget that they supported every penny of our spending until the end of 2008 – only then to revert to type by opposing our support for the economy when it was needed most, in the heat of the financial crisis.Wrong on the recession, and now wrong on the recovery. I fear the Tory budget joins the new European rush for collective austerity.” – Alistair Darling, The Observer

The race to September

“But when asked to describe the position he is now in, with a likely fight to the bitter end with his elder brother, he hints at the strain it is having on their relationship, how he is having to cope with it changing – although, he hopes, not for ever […] How does Ed feel when, for example, David slaps him down in public over his opposition to Iraq or when – as happened during the live debate on Newsnight last week – he talks over him? Mr Miliband says: “It is the ‘new normal’, in the sense that I never thought I would find myself in the position of – never mind being on national television in a debate with him – but being in a hustings with him.” – The Independent

Labour leadership hustings have turned into a veritable love-in for the “I don’t know how he does it” generation, as David Miliband talked of the sacrifices both sexes are forced to make for politics while Andy Burnham admitted to missing his children. Ed Balls even complained that male MPs with young families were less likely than women to be excused late-night votes by the whips.” – The Observer

“As ComRes publishes polling that suggests Labour support is stagnant since the general election at just 30% (Con 36%, Lab 30%, LD 23%), today’s events were mostly focussed around the BAME hustings in Leicester. To coincide with that, one of the candidates made an announcement about the extent of their support from BAME elected members and activists, whilst another wants to see a “diversity fund” established.” – Labour List

“Inside Westminster, though, the strange new politics still does not mean that reality and fantasy are any more connected. Many new Labour MPs are very good. But what Labour describes as its new ‘openness’ means nothing more than that they have five leadership contenders: two brothers, another Ed, the one with the eyelashes and Diane Abbott.” – The Sunday Mail

Looking for the leadership? Turn left…

With 50 hustings and members to please will the candidates lurch left?

“The centre ground is where British elections are won and lost. That was Blair’s great genius in 1997 and that, whether all factions within the Tory party like it or not, is where the fact of the coalition is steering Cameron’s government. Even though the four men in the race were only children at the time they are all, surely, acutely aware of what Michael Foot’s leadership did to Labour in the years after the party lost power in 1979.” – Political Betting

“It is the leftward drift that is more interesting. Interesting because at some point the new Labour leader, whoever they are, will have to tell the party things it doesn’t want to hear. Mili-D’s best line on Newsnight was that Labour shouldn’t fall into the “false debate” that how much a Government spends is somehow a mark of success, rather than what it spends that money on.” – Paul Waugh Blog, The Evening Standard (From Friday but still worth a read)

The Candidates

“Still, one of them must face David Cameron at some point. The prime minister is a lucky politician – ducking and diving through four-and-a-half years of scrapes as opposition leader and then becoming PM despite failing to win the election. Right now he must be thinking he’s lucked out again. It is hard to see any of the five Labour leadership contenders giving him much to worry about.” – Wall Street Journal

“This is a test of the Labour Party as much as our would-be leaders. So while all the pressure is on the candidates during this leadership election, there’s also a big responsibility resting with our four million members. The question is not just who can appeal to and lead those of us with a Labour affiliation; but who can appeal to and then lead the whole country? My answer is Ed Balls.” – John Healey, The Yorkshire Post

““I don’t know them very well. They’re a different generation to me and very New Labour, which they’re all scrambling now to deny. There was a wariness [between us]. With New Labour, you were either onside or cast into outer darkness. I was never showcased. When I was first elected to the NEC (National Executive Committee) I was put behind a pillar on the party conference stage. The second year I wasn’t allowed to make a speech. The party was shocked by me.”” Diane Abbot, The Telegraph

“Around 300,000 people are required to pay the 50p rate, which was introduced by the last Labour government in April as a “temporary” measure during the recession. But Mr Miliband said: “I would keep the 50p rate permanently. It’s not just about reducing the deficit, it’s about fairness in our society and that’s why I’d keep the 50p tax rate, not just for a parliament,” he said.” – The Telegraph

Family fortunes

“Political tensions between the two brothers began to rise in July 2008, when – in one of Brown’s lowest moments – Labour lost the Glasgow East by-election to the Scottish National Party. The younger Miliband was one of the few ministers to defend Brown publicly at the time. His brother, meanwhile, seen by then as Brown’s strongest rival for the leadership, wrote a highly controversial article in the Guardian which attacked the Conservatives but made no mention of Brown, adding to the sense of crisis around No 10.” – The New Stateman

“One wonders what “the brothers”, and others in Labour, will make of that. In making accusations like this, Balls must be confident that he is not briefing against any of the other candidates. However, it should be said that none has emulated David Miliband, whose decision to only allow on-the-record briefings from his press secretary Lisa Tremble was, in effect, a challenge for others to do the same.” – The New Statesman

“David Miliband could ‘walk away’ from frontline politics if he loses the Labour leadership contest to his brother, party sources have warned.The former Foreign Secretary is said to be so ‘hurt’ by younger brother Ed’s aggressive campaign that he is questioning whether he could work for him.” – The Daily Mail

The pitch

“The homogeneity of this quartet was not the only reason that Diane Abbott gave the sparkiest performance. The most common objection to TV debates is that they favour the visually schooled and Abbott, as the first weekly TV co-presenter to take part in small-screen hustings, perhaps proved this point: her sense of where to look, and how, and when to interrupt was vastly superior.” – The Guardian

“The MPs have largely cast their nominations, and the Famous Five are now touring the country speaking/pandering to various audiences in the constituency section of the Labour party, but soon the unions are going to come into play, and the focus will be on gaining the recommendations of the union executives. Unison and Unite, the biggish two of the unions, gather in Leeds on two consecutive days – 2 and 3 July – to meet the candidates and make a recommendation.” – The Guardian