David Miliband reinforces his monetary advantage

I can’t work out what’s stranger: that anyone, let along the author Ken Follett, should donate £100,000 to Ed Balls’ leadership campaign, or that the Liverpool footballer Jamie Carragher (“Mr Liverpool”) should give £10,000 to the devoted Evertonian Andy Bunrham. Either way, they’re probably the two stand-out entries in the latest list of Labour leadership donations.

But the real story is the same as the last time the donations were published: David Miliband’s monetary advantage. Even with Ed Balls raising £103,000 in July, the elder Miliband brother still comes out on top with £138,835 – adding to an overall war chest which dwarfs those of all the other contenders. The question now is whether this fuels the idea that David Miliband is a leader-in-waiting, or whether it helps his rivals paint him as someone trying to buy the campaign. And the answer could, at least, alter the sway of this stuttering contest.

UPDATE: Team Ed Miliband is emphasising that their man has collected £58,000 in smaller donations, from 682 people.