Six North Labour parties nominate David Miliband
The MPs have had their say but now local Labour parties are delivering their verdicts on who they're backing to be the next party's leader.
And so far in the North, David Miliband is leading the way.
Nine constituency parties in the North East have so far submitted their nominations.
Six - Blyth, Bishop Auckland, Gateshead, Houghton and Sunderland South, Jarrow and Sedgefield - have gone for David Miliband.
Two - Easington and Newcastle North - have plumped for brother Ed.
One - Washington and Sunderland West - has nominated Ed Balls.
It's interesting to see where local parties have backed up their own MP's choice and where they haven't.
Sharon Hodgson backed Ed Balls, which may have helped to persuade her local party in Washington and Sunderland West to support him too.
Easington, Newcastle North, Gateshead, Houghton and Sunderland South and Sedgefield have also chosen the same candidate as their MP.
In Blyth though, Ronnie Campbell nominated Diane Abbott, in Bishop Auckland, Helen Goodman had gone for Ed Miliband and Jarrow's Stephen Hepburn had nominated Ed Balls.
The nominations don't mean a great deal though as each individual Labour party member still has their own vote. We also don't know how many members bothered to take part in the process.
But they might be some indication of where the candidates stand.
If the contest was based on fundraising clout, then David Miliband would certainly be well ahead.
According to the Electoral Commission, the South Shields MP has raised £185,000 so far. Contrast that with the £28,000 accumulated by Ed Balls, and the £15,000 raised by Ed Miliband.
David Miliband's donors include Chariots of Fire producer and former Vice Chancellor of Sunderland University Lord David Puttnam, Lord David Sainsbury and former Blur drummer Dave Rowntree.
But this Sunday The Politics Show puts Mr Miliband through its own test.
We introduced him to four local Labour party members and one former member.
All were undecided, so we gave him half an hour to win them over.
You can see how well he gets on in the programme this Sunday on BBC1 at 11am.
I'm Richard Moss, the BBC's Political Editor for the North East and Cumbria. Welcome to my irreverent - but hopefully insightful - northern take on reporting politics for Look North and the Politics Show.
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~10~RS~)
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.
"The nominations don't mean a great deal"
Actually, Richard, these nominations don't mean anything. They are not counted towards the outcome of the ballot - it is merely the case that candidates can claim the backing of CLPs, etc. More influential on the outcome will be the backing of individual affiliated trade union executives to their members.
As for MPs backing and CLPs backing - nominating a candidate is not the same thing as endorsing a candidate. I can think of at least one North East MP who nominated a candidate but is giving vocal support to another.
As to funds raised, DM has raised a large ammount enabling him to do mail-shots, etc. - however, a third will go to the Party, and he is training a thousand young members in community organising.
Complain about this comment
Thanks James.
As you point out, they are pretty meaningless in terms of the ballot, and I'm sure you're right on the MP nominations. Some I'm sure nominated tactically, others to get a wider choice of candidates into the contest.
In terms of trade union backing, two have so far backed David Miliband - Community and Usdaw. Diane Abbott has the support of the TSSA.
Latest update is that North Tyneside CLP has also nominatedDavid Miliband, as has, unsurprisingly, South Shields. Newcastle Central has gone for brother Ed.
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS