Any Labour members care to start a discussion regarding the leadership election?

It seems that David Miliband has been spooked by the success of Diane Abbott and his brother and has decided to abandon his Blairite roots, and veer off to the left.

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/18/this-budget-is-the-big-test

Mansion taxes and removing charitable status from private schools. Are those really his big ideas? They could have come straight from a school debating club.

I am a political junkie but dear God, this leadership campaign is boring.

Imagine how much worse it would be without Diane Abbott!

They should all be trying to make distinctive pitches which adorn the front pages of the broadsheets every day. Instead we get a yawnfest - where they say exactly the same things at every hustings.

I think the New Statesman's idea of giving them each one go at PMQs against Cameron is a good one.

Otherwise all that we have to look forward to is endless hustings debates about Iraq, Trident, and PR.

sounds like Burnham is living up to his name, bridges and how to burn 'em. Brave possibly, foolhardy certainly

Andy Burnham: cut the NHS

www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jun/16/andy-burnham-nhs-spending-health

Very brave! I actually think he has a very good point.

Not sure it is going to win hearts and minds amongst the Labour grassroots though!

Diane Abbott isn't PM material.

Not because she is middle-aged, black, female, or because almost all Labour MPs hate her.

But for the simple reason that she is far to the left of the British public.

I suspect the public will move left over the next year or two as the cuts start to bite, but will drift back once the economy is put on a sensible footing in 3 or 4 years time.

MarionCole

Do you remember the bit at the end, where they were asked who the greatest Labour leader/non-leader was?

And David Miliband and Ed Balls decided to have a private conversation whilst other people were answering?

Apparently it was because David Miliband didn't hear the question properly, and was clarifying it with Ed Balls - but whatever the reason, it was so rude. It came across very badly to me.

I'm just watching it again on iPlayer because I missed the beginning.

An entirely shallow observation. Ed Miliband's lisp and habit of speaking out of the side of his mouth is cute for about 3 seconds and then gets really really annoying.

I actually thought Ed Balls was OK. Not good, certainly not great, but not awful.

I thought Diane Abbott did very well. Ed Miliband was far worse than I thought - he needs to sort out that oh-so-earnest stare.

David Miliband stayed firmly on the right of the party despite some moderately serious provocation.

Cameron will be happy if he was watching. None of them measured up really. They will have to improve to get anywhere near his natural empathy. Blair is the only British politician I can think of who could even possibly be better.

yes let's hope we have seen the back of New Labour, and they can go back to being real Labour. I don't know too much about Harold Wilson, but from what little I know, he seemed good. I think he set up the OU and refused to join in against Vietnam. He was probably more real Labour.

thinking more about it. Ed Miliband has a sense of humour, which makes him human. He also has humility. It seems to me that David is humourless and a bit arrogant.

yes Diane would be best, she is honourable. I think Ed Miliband would be a very good choice, the best choice for Labour. I have gone off Ed Balls now, he made no impact at all. Ed Miliband is a dark horse and may well pip his brother. He would be a better choice. Maybe it is significant that big figures like Neil Kinnock back Ed. I'm not sure who has declared allegiance to DM.

I am not sure DM was statesmanlike. He thought he was, which was why he wasn't. Did you notice his facial expressions, screwing up his face in a pained way, whenever Diane or anybody else tried to get a word in over his prepared orations? Also Paxman had to keep telling him to let his brother speak. I agree with auberginesrus that he was trying too hard to impress, like at an interview, showing that he was a big boy who had been to Afghanistan no less than 6 times, and also that he was clever enough to spot that little boy Burnham had misunderstood the question about the best leader that Labour never had.

I agree with you that without Diane, they would all be much of a muchness, just party apparatchiks in identical suits. But I thought that Ed Miliband came over best as a statesman. I haven't seen him much in action against others, and was impressed by his acting abilities. He was very confident and was at ease with performing. I personally don't think he believes much of what he says, but he does do a good job of putting the act across. I think he will be the best one of them to fool the public. But I think it is all academic, because DM will win.

exactly and did you notice the cheap point he scored off Burnham, who picked John Smith as the best leader that Labour never had. It had to be David Miliband who humiliated Burnham and showed us all how clever he was by saying "wasn't the question about the leader that Labour had never had?" David Miliband wrote the book "How To Lose Friends and Not Influence People". We saw that with his behaviour in India and I think we can look forward to many years of him putting his foot in his mouth as Labour leader.