A day in the race: June 20th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

The leadership candidates had a great deal of media attention between them today, as three of them appeared on the Sunday morning shows and another gave an extensive interview with one of the papers. As we move towards the ConDem emergency budget on Tuesday, there were accusations that the country faces the “most right wing budget we have potentially ever seen”, and another MP declared her support for a candidate.

ED BALLS has had a furious weekend of campaigning. After a busy day yesterday in the Midlands, he appeared on the Andrew Marr show this morning and said he fears a return to the economics of the 1930s:

“I fear that what’s happening is we’re making the mistake of the 1930s – the mistake of thinking that cutting the deficit, even if that means putting growth and jobs at risk as a priority … It’s not just the callousness of the cuts which are being proposed – the unfairness of a rise in VAT. It’s the fact that it would undermine recovery and jobs and, therefore, make it harder to reduce the deficit. There was a phrase which Keynes used in 1936 when he wrote The General Theory about ‘madmen in authority listening to voices in the air’. These voices are back and they’re saying cut, cut, cut, and it’s profoundly misguided.”

Balls also had strong words for Osborne on his planned public sector pension commission (to be chaired by John Hutton) – arguing on his website that such a review should include Trade Union representation.

Later, Balls visited Twickenham CLP, and recorded the following video:

ANDY BURNHAM was on Sky News this morning, and warned that Britain could be about to face, “”the most right wing budget we have potentially ever seen”.

Burnham laid out his plan for a fair budget, saying:

“The country needs a budget that is a careful blend of three elements, careful reductions in public spending, tax increases that are fair across the board, measures to promote growth in the private sector”

Burnham was equally scathing towards the Lib Dems, who he said “sold their souls for a couple of government jobs.”

DAVID MILIBAND today announced that he has secured the support of Gisela Stewart. The Birmingingham Edgbaston MP held on to her seat against the odds, and has been cited by many in the party as an example of high quality campaigning – particularly for the number of non-party supporters she had volunteering for her.

Speaking to Progress, Stewart said that she supported David Miliband, as:

“The one candidate who has the greatest chance of leading the party, healing the Brown/Blair divisions, bringing about a fairer society and winning the next general election for Labour.”

David also appeared on Sky News to be interviewed by Adam Boulton and gave an assured performance, labelling Nick Clegg “the dumb waiter of the government”, and arguing robustly in defence of Labour’s record on the economy – saying that “the champagne corks are popping in Korea and Japan” over the cancellation of the government loan to Sheffield Forgemasters.

In an extensive interview with the Independent on Sunday, ED MILIBAND described the strange circumstances of him competing against his brother as “the new normal” but said that the relationship would remain strong. Ed also said that he would be giving his second preference to his brother (David has already said he will do likewise). Speaking about the situation his finds himself in, he said:

“It’s obviously odd, but it’s absolutely handleable. I feel like our relationship is sufficiently close that, win or lose in either case, we will be spending christmas together, and I think we will look back on it and laugh at what a strange thing it was.”

He also went on to brand Nick Clegg a “crypto-Tory”, revealed the “macho” position that the Lib Dems adopted on the budget in coalition talks, and argued that “New Labour’s problem was that it was too close to big business.”

DIANE ABBOTT appears to have taken a day off the campaign trail today – only emerging on twitter this afternoon to criticise John Hutton for taking on his new public sector pension role, saying:

“Former Labour minister (and arch-Blairite) John Hutton appointed by Tories to be the pensions-slasher-in-chief.”

Abbott has been the first leadership candidate to criticise Hutton for taking a role with the new government. It remains to be seen whether or not any of his former cabinet colleagues will be seen to attack him so openly.