The Labour leadership election gets exciting as the Unions try and install Andy Burnham as leader
Front page story of the @thesundaytimes via @hendopolis Story here http://t.co/YcqW88z1Mz pic.twitter.com/oiMiWoSH3Q
— TSE (@TSEofPB) May 16, 2015
Looking at this story (££), it is probably bad news for Liz Kendall who is perceived to be the most Blairite of the contenders.
The other interesting snippet from the Sunday Times piece, is that Burnham currently has 50 MPs backing him and is approaching 100 MPs as backers, which would mean not all the declared candidates will make it to the ballot paper, as they need 35 MPs backing them to stand, which might be bad news for Tristram Hunt and Mary Creagh who might struggle to get the 35 nominations but in terms of actual votes in the Labour electoral college, gives Andy Burnham a real advantage, assuming that the 100 MPs figure isn’t just hype.>
It would appear those opposed to the Unions influencing the outcome of the Labour leadership are fighting back, the zingers of the weekend went to Jim Murphy, following his resignation as Scottish Labour leader yesterday, he said “Len McCluskey and the Unite leadership are the type of people who could pick the wrong winner in a one-horse race” and the unnamed Labour MP who said of Andy Burnham, “He’s Ed Miliband with a Scouse accent.â€
Following the leadership of Ed Miliband where it was felt the Unions foisted Ed on the party, there could be a backlash against the candidate who is being heavily backed by the unions by those people with a vote in the leadership election.
All the odds on the next Labour leader are available here.