what do we think of diane abbot's bid to be Labour leader?

Yes, Miliband is persona non grata as far as the Indians have concerned - and the Indians have also responded very positively to the very warm overtures made by William Hague.

However, Hillary Clinton and David Miliband got on famously well - she even said that she fancied him . The meeting between Hillary and William Hague seemed cordial but certainly not friendly.

At the leadership level, however, the body language between Barack Obama and David Cameron is very good - they seemed really comfortable with each other when he was in London. Barack Obama never seemed to gel with Gordon Brown.

claig- forgive me for saying this, but your style is very tabloid! Or is it more daily Mail

PanMan- you are spot on in your analysis.

Longnails - you wouldn't find me defending ED Balls. Even his wife YC, would rather give up the hope of being PM to keep him away from reading bed time stories.

Actually the smart thing would for Labour to elect Harriet as care taker. Cameron is a very able operator and they might not get a look in for a couple of terms.

do you remember how DM upset high officials in the Indian Government with his style and statements while he was a guest in India? Profuse apologies were offered, it was a near calamity. I think he also made a few faux pas in America with Hilary, can't quite remember that one. We'll have many amusing years with him as Labour leader, he won't waste any opportunities to put his foot in his mouth

I sincerely hope Diane Abbot wins the leadership election, thus designating the Labour party to the political wilderness for years, where they belong!

The view from the Peaks:
D.A. - will never get elected, and thank f**k. Has her eyes on other things and would not be committed to it.
Ed Balls - to close to Gordon.( not a bad thing in itself).
David M. - have you seen anyone looking more Blair than Blair?
Ed M. - like him a lot, and as someone said before, Labour will not get in first time, and by the time they do Ed would still ahve his charm as well as some dirt under his finger nails.

Not a great deal of joy then. In some ways I hope that the current love-in at No.10 lasts for a bit, take all of the economic shit that's coming, and then Ed sweeps us all off our feet.

She's unelectable. Remember Michael Foor??

TDiddy

The difference between Redwood and Balls is that dyed in the wool Tories love Redwood but core Labourites (excluding parts of UNITE) hate Ed Balls.

I suspect the reason you like Ed Miliband is precisely the reason he would be a very bad leader for Labour. He too is fond of using words like "sustainability" - not words which Mrs Duffy will relate to. Still, at least he seems to have passion. His brother seems so boring - and more importantly, is completely gutless.

Instead of either knifing Gordon Brown or giving him his wholehearted support, David Miliband on multiple occasions sat on the fence. That says he doesn't have the courage to take decisions.

Compare Cameron and Clegg - who had the audacity to form the coalition in the face of all the pundits. Compare Blair - who took on his party over Clause 4 and won. Compare Thatcher who, for all her faults, certainly didn't shy away from problems but dealt with them.

They are all politicians with guts. David Miliband is a coward.

interesting 2cats2many, I didn't know that

And I don;t think she would ever run against Ken for the Labour nomination for London mayor- she and Ken are as thick as thieves.

I think its a self-serving and cynical move on her part to raise her media profile.

I never said all of Labour is bad. I quite like Diane Abbott, even if she is a hypocrite. I think Prescott was effective. I think Kate Hoey is fantastic, as is Bob Marshall-Andrews. After that I have to start scratching my head. I like Balls, he is the best of the balls up that is the Labour leadership candidate list. I am a Tory supporter, so if I think Balls is quite good and the only real threat to Cameron, then I don't think he is as unelectable as many say. But it looks to me like David Miliband is the Crown Prince anyway, so it is entirely academic. All that will mean is that the Tories remain in power for many years to come.

I think it would add to the gaity of the nation

claig and longfingers.... your arguments might be more persuasive if you didn't look for every opportunity to say all Labour is bad and all Cons is good.

Andy Burnham?...no please, he strikes me as a shallow, nice, good-looking guy who wouldn't be able to come up with policies even if you held a gun to his head.

I am hoping that Ed Milliband surprises us as he has the best chance of connecting with the younger generation on issues such as sustainability. Anyway, I suspect that Labour is more likely to be out for more than one term so in a way the first opposition leader might not matter as much as we think.

PS Redwood is very clever but like Ed Balls, totally unelectable.

No, it seems your first instinct was right Prolesworth.

Though Andrew Gilligan has a well-known animosity towards Ken, his source on this seems to be an official Labour spokesman:

blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewgilligan/100040426/has-labour-stitched-up-the-mayoral-selection-for -ken-livingstone-and-boris/

From that it seems that Labour are leaning towards selecting their candidate for Mayor at the same time as their national leader.

A stupid idea, if you ask me - but then again, we are talking about Labour here...

I really like DA, she is someone I can relate to, much more so that the new breed of middle class bores like the Millibands. I don't think she will win. Her website used to be very odd, lots of uncomfortable staged but amateur photos of her which made her look a tad vain. She is not thick in any way.

The London Mayor theory makes sense to me.

Huh? The election is in 2012! Are Labour really selecting their candidate already? I know Ken and Oona have said they will stand, but surely there is loads of time for other candidates to come forward?

To see how silly that would be, look at Barack Obama. He only defeated Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Presidential nomination in June 2008, with the actual election was in November.

Labour's internal rules are crazy. Electing the shadow cabinet is a recipe for disaster. The leadership voting system encourages mediocrity than outright appeal - I predict the winner will be the person who can convert most second and third preferences. The three way split in the final vote for leader between the unions, MPs and members is also very arbitrary. And the 33 MP nomination rule would make it impossible for a relative newcomer like David Cameron for the Tories, or Obama for the Democrats in America, to make it onto the ballot.

Here is an interview Diane Abbott did, only a few months back in February

www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/diane-abbott-you-ask-the-questions-1892291.html

Do you want to be Prime Minister? Harriet Bloar, St Ives

No. But I wouldn't mind being Mayor of London.

Greensleeves I think Diane Abbott is bored with being a backbencher and commentator and wants a more senior job before she retires.

She obviously knows that she isn't going to become Labour leader but by raising her profile this way she could easily get into the Shadow Cabinet, or as I mentioned earlier, become a contender for Mayor of London.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

it is a joke, right?

Diane Abbott may be many things, but she's not thick- she read history at Cambridge.