With the result but a day away, there’s plenty of radio chatter about the Labour
leadership election this morning. The Guardian reports that MiliD will work for MiliE if he loses. The FT
observes Harriet Harman shifting towards the Eds’ position on the deficit, even if she is remaining neutral in the
contest itself. A Populus poll for the Times (£) suggests that Gordon Brown is currently more popular among Labour
supporters than either of the Milibands (which is deeply amusing). And Political
Betting is calling it for Ed Miliband.
But perhaps the most noteworthy contributions come courtesy of Ed Balls, compiled and skilfully analysed by Sunder Katwala over at Next Left. In an interview with the Telegraph, Balls reveals that he hasn’t
cast a second preference vote:
And the Guardian adds:“His ballot paper carries no second preference: ‘I’m going to support whoever wins'”
So two interventions, both of which push the door open for Balls to work with either Miliband? He can only have his eyes on one prize – and, lest it need saying, it’s no longer the party leadership.“Balls, the shadow children’s secretary and a strong contender for the shadow chancellorship, insisted that his call to slow the Labour deficit programme ‘does not put me in a different place to either David or Ed Miliband’. He said: ‘My Bloomberg speech [last month] has been praised by both Milibands and no one thinks we have to stick by the position adopted two years ago. The world has changed and moved on. The American downturn and the European crisis have changed things. I find it bizarre that Nick Clegg argues the crisis makes the case for cuts. It is nonsense and I think he has been very badly advised.'”
UPDATE: Guido reports that Ed Miliband is now the bookies’ favourite for the leadership.
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