This might end the mini Cooper surge and the Burnham slump
Team Burnham really should shout this from the rooftops. http://t.co/ustVi1YX7x pic.twitter.com/VFkhg85yss
— TSE (@TSEofPB) September 6, 2015
The Observer have reported
The head of Liz Kendall’s campaign has suggested that Labour supporters will give the party’s leadership to Jeremy Corbyn if they vote for Yvette Cooper. In a dramatic intervention less than a week before the result, Toby Perkins said he believed the complexities of the alternative vote (AV) system, under which voters’ second preferences play a decisive role, left it likely that Andy Burnham was the only candidate able to beat Corbyn.
Perkins, the MP for Chesterfield, said his own team’s canvassing, and that of Burnham’s, suggested that so many of the shadow health secretary’s voters had put Corbyn down as a second preference that Cooper could not prevail if she were left in a runoff with the leftwinger. “My analysis was that Andy Burnham would have a better chance of beating Jeremy Corbyn than Yvette Cooper if he was in the last two,†said Perkins. “On that analysis, I gave Andy my second preference, even though I have liked much of what Yvette has been saying.â€
Stephen Bush tweeted that Perkins was saying “publicly what Teams Corbyn, Kendall & Burnham are all saying privately.”
Though Perkins later tweeted this morning “Having voted for Liz Kendall I chose to give MY 2nd preference to Andy Burnham. That’s my choice NOT ‘Kendall camp'”
Team Burnham should be ramping up Perkins endorsement to say only Burnham is best placed to stop Corbyn, with less than four days until voting closes this is maybe too little late. Burnham might also regret not explaining how AV works to the Labour selectorate it could have guaranteed him victory but is further testament to the poor campaign he has run.
This is all very reminiscent of the scene from The Pink Panther Strikes Again when several assassins are after Inspector Clouseau. Like Clouseau, Corbyn should survive, as all the assasins manage to do is wipe each other out whilst leaving their target safe.
TSE