Huddersfield Labour activists to decide on new leader as Andy Burnham and Diane Abbott enter the fray

May 21 2010 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

LABOUR activists meet in Huddersfield tonight to decide who to support in the party’s leadership contest.

Two more MPs – left-winger Diane Abbott and former culture secretary Andy Burnham – joined the race yesterday, bringing the field of candidates up to six.

The other runners are brothers David and Ed Miliband, former schools secretary Ed Balls and backbencher John McDonnell.

Huddersfield Labour MP Barry Sheerman will meet 40 party activists tonight at the Sikh Leisure Centre to discuss which candidate to support.

He said: “I will meet the General Management Committee and we will talk about the contest. After that I will announce who I will support.

“I will make up my own mind, as will all the members in Huddersfield who have their own vote.”

The six candidates need the backing of at least 33 Labour MPs to get their names on the ballot paper. Yesterday the party decided to extend the deadline for nominations from May 27 to June 9 after some candidates complained that the deadline was too tight.

Mr Sheerman revealed yesterday he may support Mrs Abbott’s nomination to ensure there is a woman in the contest.

“I think it’s important that a woman runs,’’ he said. “I might even be one of the people who supports her nomination, but I probably wouldn’t vote for her in the election.”

Voting will run from August 16 to September 22, with the winner announced three days later.

Labour uses a three-part electoral college for its leadership contests. Party members have a third of the votes, trade unionists a third and MPs and Euro-MPs another third.

The system gives MPs much more voting power than ordinary party members.

Mr Sheerman declined to reveal which candidate he will support yesterday – but he has close connections to some of them.

He said: “My daughter Madlin was a special adviser to David Miliband and she’s now a key member of his campaign team but that won’t influence my decision.

“David and Ed’s father Ralph Miliband taught me at the London School of Economics. He was a great teacher and I admired him a lot.”

The contest heated up yesterday when Mrs Abbott made the surprise announcement that she was running.

University of Huddersfield politics lecturer Dr Pete Woodcock thinks it’s a shock move.

He said: “I’m absolutely surprised by this. I can only think that – after the coronation of Gordon Brown last time – people want a good bunch of candidates this time.”

Dr Woodcock believes the current second favourite will win.

He said: “I think Ed Miliband is the best candidate because he’s an extremely likeable chap. He’s slightly to the left of David and more in the centre of the Labour Party than his brother.”

Dr Woodcock added that Labour members should focus on picking a potential prime minister rather than someone who appealed just to them.

He said: “They need to make sure they pick someone who can challenge David Cameron and Nick Clegg in an election that could be a year off, rather than five years away.

“After the Tories went into opposition in 1997 they picked William Hague and then Iain Duncan-Smith – people who suited the Conservatives but not the electorate.

“I think Labour are more savvy.”