Labour leadership - anyone getting excited?

[MarionCole]

Because I am

I am.

It looks like it's going to be EdM - a man who has already ceded the centre ground to the coalition.

More to the point, Red Ed looks like he will

• lose in the MPs section
• lose in the members' section

and be carried through on union votes.

Is there anything more that Tories would like than painting him as the union puppet? And the thing is, it would be absolutely right!!

I bet in his first speech, instead of spelling out Darling's 20% cuts, he will start defending the hoards of quangocrats who are suddenly squealing in indignation that no, the Stapler Safety Advisory Committee is absolutely necessary and the World Will End if it does not do its job!

mildly excited here too.

I have thought it would be EdM since the Mumsnet hustings tbh.

Nope.

I hope it is Ed. (and I bet Mamma Miliband secretly does too) But I think it's going to be Tim Henman David. Who will start channelling Tony.

Ken has got the London Mayor vote I see.

Getting a bit excited. Hoping for a victory by a candidate, EdM I suppose, who will make it possible for me to engage wit Labour again after long period of alienation because of Iraq and marketising of public services.

Feel like a partner who is desp sad and lonely after a row and will seize on any excuse to make up.

What would you cut, Mr Miliband?

A dossier compiled by a former Bank of England economist says that David Miliband needs to find £55bn of cuts before the CSR. Ed Miliband needs to find £67bn of cuts.

If whoever wins can't make their sums add up by the time of the Comprehensive Spending Review then they will lose all economic credibility.

www.spectator.co.uk/article_assets/articledir_12604/6302158/WHAT%20WOULD%20YOU%20CUT%20MR%20MILIBAND.pdf

I should think the only person getting remotely excited is Mrs Milliband Snr., wondering what to buy for whom as a consolation gift. Otherwise it's all been rather underwhelming.

Chil1234

If Red Ed wins, in all probability it means a second term of Tory - or at least coalition - government.

That is worth getting excited about.

Mind you, the same is probably true of Bananaboy too... DM at least sees the problems for Labour, though, if not the solutions.

Even the most optimistic Tory (and that includes me) would have trouble foreseeing a second term at the moment. If PR gets through, if Bob Crow sticks his oar in, if the LibDem 'tactical voters' chuck their toys out of the pram.... all kinds of things could mess things up without so much as a murmur from any of the pathetic sock-puppets in the Labour leadership race.

I do find it funny that you Tories always end up taking over these threads

And anyway, re 'Red Ed', what's so wrong with a Labour leader being a socialist?

It is odd, isn't it. Like coming on to a 'which breastfeeding strategies are best' thread to sing the praises of formula.

It has been dull, hasn't it. Hasn't been the genuine discussion about 'whither Labour' that was needed. Is that the consequence of the one-member-one-vote element? So many passive members voting that the selection is bund to be a bit like the televised election debate, rather than the genuine activity of party self-definition of, say, the early eighties.

I've been quite envigorated by it actually. I agree it hasn't been as radically self-defining as it might have been, but I do feel it has been an opportunity reassess New Labour.

The reason for Red Ed moniker is pretty obvious clear from their respective answers to my question on the webchat:

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longfingernails
My question is a philosophical one, on the role of the State.

In your considered opinion, what should the State do, what should the State not do, and why? What do you see as the ideal size of the State as a percentage of GDP, and why?

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DavidMiliband
Government should protect people from risks beyond their control, and empower people to take more control over their own lives. If by size you mean per cent of national income spent through government then there isnt an ideal size - because you can spend an awful lot of money on paying for the costs of unemployment and that is no proof of anything progressive.

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EdMiliband
Good question. The state has a crucial role to play as regulatorlike in the financial markets-supporter of our economic future through an industrial policy, enabler, through education, and guarantor of fairness, through redistribution. We should always be for a responsive state in the services it provides and the way it treats people because it can be faceless and bureaucratic and I think too much power in this country is unaccountable, so we need a more democratic state, for example, from the second chamber of Parliament which should be elected to local bus services where councils should have more power.

I don't think we can name an arbitrary figure for state spending: it depends on the growth in the economy apart from anything else and we should take decisions about each item of state spending on its merits.
-----

DM takes a very New Labour, Blairite view - one which I agree entirely with - whilst Ed seems to almost yearn for the hammer and sickle that his father loved so dearly!

The rumours on Twitter are that Ed has won it. Supposedly someone from the DM camp leaked this.

Yes. I thought it was funny. Would have been a bit unfair to show it while voting was still going on though!

I did watch it Proles. Was a bit

Prolesworth

On the concurrent _Chat, I have suggested this as Ed Miliband's campaign song

:o :o

It's looking like Ed.

excellent song!!! As an active trade unionist, not heard it for ages.

I'm excited...what time tomorrow and how will it be announced?

I suppose sky news is my best bet.

Tomorrow afternoon at the conference, you can register to have a text sent to you if you go on the party website. Lots of rumours on twitter that Ed has won.