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

[MarionCole]

Firstly, the email from Ray Collins which says "we have to make sure that those who share our values and beliefs are invited to have their say. That?s why we?ll shortly be taking out an advert in a national newspaper to invite them to join and to play their part." Does that mean they have changed the rules so that new members can vote?

I had a dream about Ed Miliband last night, I think it may be clouding my judgment.

I have just watched the New Statesman hustings and was not impressed.

Diane Abbott went for cheap applause lines too often. She was very populist (at least, with regard to the audience she was speaking to) but didn't seem to be taking it seriously.

Ed Miliband talked about nothing except "values". David Miliband was clever but utterly technocratic. He even opened with some obscure quotation by some long-dead nobody.

Ed Balls was Ed Balls.

Diane Abbott will play well amongst the trade union members and maybe amongst one part of the general Labour membership. She will fail dismally amongst MPs though.

The other candidates will do OK amongst the three selectorates.

Having seen her in action, though, I do think it is a real possibility, though not yet a probability, that Diane Abbott will not come last!

Andy Burnham could yet sneak through the middle. He is pretty unmemorable, but is definitely a consensus politician rather than a factional one. He surely has to be the second or third preference of almost the entire Labour selectorate.

Ed Balls has decided to attack Alastair Darling for not ruling out a VAT increase in the manifesto

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/7825548/Balls-accuses-Darling-of-costing-Labour- the-election.html

Not sure that is a very smart political move (though on purely logical grounds, Balls is perhaps right).

Darling seems to be more respected than just about anyone else within Labour (despite his record of failure as Chancellor).

Very interesting poll here

www.labourlist.org/labourlist-leadership-poll-results-june-15?utm_source=taomail&utm_medium=email&ut m_campaign=2817+Communication%2C+Fri+11th+Jun+2010&tmtid=31461-2817-6-1-1083

I don't know how scientific or voodoo the poll is, but interesting nonetheless!

That is interesting and I find it quite encouraging that it really looks open.

it just struck me who Ed Miliband reminds me of. One of those Nick Park Creature Comforts puppets with the bulging eyes and rubber lips

but to be fair to him, it's not just him, they all bear a striking resemblance to muppets, and it gets worse when they speak, it's just a stream of goobledegook like Bill and Ben the Crackpot Men

David Miliband, tough decisions = more wars for "values"

Ed Miliband comes across best, he must have had RADA training, he is another thespian like Bliar

Diane is right, all the rest opposed her, they are all big state top-downers just like their mates the Stasi

Andy Burnham is pretty rubbish, seems to only get animated when talking about health issues, Diane is doing pretty well when she can get a word in.

Ed/Ed and David are all much of a muchness as far as I can see - its hard to discern who thinks what, and its not really very inspiring

agree about Burnham, he thinks he is on a winner with health care and the aged and starts overacting and waxing lyrical. The whole thing was acting by all of them except Diane. But she knows she doesn't stand a chance, but at least her record was honourable. What was interesting was David Miliband. He had an arrogance and kept getting angry when interrupted as if he were the primus inter pares and deserved to be listened to. That will be a flaw as he claws his way up the greasy pole.

At times I thought David M sounded like he was at a job interview - kept dropping in what he had done that set him above the other candidates, e.g "when you have been to Afghanistan 6 times"...

Crick doing his best to boost the chosen one, David Miliband, pretending that DM's uneasiness about swimming pool rules somehow makes up for his championing of big state ID, DNA and CCTV policies. It's a fait accompli with the media doing their best to promote David Militantband

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.

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.

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.

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 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.