David Miliband, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, and his brother Ed, the former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, are running pretty much neck and neck as the race for the Labour Party leadership passes the half-way mark.
David Miliband has notched up 165 nominations from Constituency Labour Parties while his brother has 147. There is no guarantee that party members will vote the same way – CLP nominations are typically decided by a relatively small number of activists – but it is a clear indication of the way the wind is blowing. David also has 91 supporting nominations from the 258 Labour Members of Parliament while Ed has 63.
David’s campaign is now confident he will win but is determined not to appear complacent in public. Ed’s campaign, though, still believes he can win on the basis of second preference votes.
Under party rules, after the votes have been counted, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated until one has a simple majority of more than 50 per cent of the votes cast.
The other three candidates know they are some way behind in the race but all are determined not to give up. Ed Balls, the Shadow Secretary of State for Education, rejected speculation that he was thinking of throwing in the towel. He said: “I’m fighting to the end and I’m fighting to win.”
Rumours began circulating that he might quit when Unite endorsed Ed Miliband. The union had been expected to back Mr Balls, to whom it has traditionally been close, but took the pragmatic decision that “the other Ed” – Miliband – is more likely to beat his brother.
Ed Miliband also has the backing of Unison, the GMB and UCATT. Mr Balls is being backed by the CWU while Diane Abbott has the support of ASLEF and the TSSA and David Miliband the backing of Community and USDAW.
Although, in public, the candidates have stuck to the party line and refrained from attacking each other, behind the scenes there is growing unease – and resentment – at the enormous sums of money which have been pouring into David Miliband’s campaign.
Two wealthy donors have each given him £50,000 and figures released by the Electoral Commission show his campaign has received more than £200,000 – far in excess of all the other candidates combined.
Neither Andy Burnham nor Diane Abbott has recorded any individual donations of more than £1,500.
Critics in the other camps say David is “buying the election with Blairite support” and there have been suggestions that Tony Blair has himself contributed handsomely to his campaign.
Voting in the electoral college – which is split into thirds between party members, MPs and trade union levy payers – begins in September. The winner will be announced on September 25 on the eve of the Labour Party conference in Manchester
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