A day in the race: July 19th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Today was about schools inside the leadership campaign – and “The Big Society” outside of the campaign. One candidate celebrated a ton of nominations, Ed Balls produced another campaign video, an open letter accused a Lib Dem minister of backtracking on green jobs – and a Burnham campaign surrogate launched a stinging barb at opposing candidates.

ED BALLS today held a lobby of parliament with the NASUWT as part of his “Save our Schools” campaign. This morning, Ed wrote an article for the Mirror which trailed the protest:

“Today’s protest isn’t about botched lists full of errors. It’s about savage cuts which are unfair, unnecessary and will add to unemployment.”

“They’re unfair — because they’ll condemn hundreds of thousands of children to second-class facilities. Labour rebuilt or refurbished 4,000 schools, but there was still more to do before our building programme was stopped in its tracks.”

“They’ll add to unemployment — because tens of thousands of jobs will be put at risk, as work is taken away from builders, electricians and plumbers.”

After the protest, Balls recorded the following video with the NASUWT’s Chris Keates:

And tonight, Balls sent an email to his supporters’ list about the rally and his campaign, stating in bold terms:

“As someone said to me this weekend, in this Labour leadership election it’s no good raking over the past and writing memoirs, or talking about a vague vision for the future when such terrible things are happening now. We need someone who can oppose what the Tories and Lib Dems are doing right now. That is why I will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with parents, teachers, children and trade unionists to urge Michael Gove and this Tory-Liberal Government to think again.”

As well as writing for the Mirror, Balls also wrote for the Guardian this morning – warning the government to avoid the economic mistakes of the 1930s:

“Now a new coalition again says cuts are unavoidable. When I say they are wrong — that the cuts are too deep, too fast and a political choice, not economic necessity — Cameron echoes MacDonald and calls his critics “deficit deniersâ€.”

Balls also appeared on the Today programme this morning, ratcheting up the pressure a notch by accusing Michael Gove of saying “you’re not worth it” to thousands of children:

“I’m afraid Michael Gove today is saying to hundreds and hundreds of thousands of children around the country, ‘I’m sorry, you aren’t worth it, you’re not my priority.”

Today’s magic number for the ED MILIBAND was 244 – the number of small donations received over 24 hours by the campaign in response to their fundraising drive. In an email to supporters, Miliband said:

“Donations kept on coming in through our website over the weekend, from £10 to £20 to £100 — and we’ve now raised well over £9,000 in just one weekend from some 300 supporters. That’s nearly double what we first set out to achieve last Thursday.”

The Telegraph was impressed with the “Obama-style” small fundraising, which has now raised well in excess of £10,000.

And Ed M’s campaign will also be boosted tonight by a blogpost by Paul Duxbury, a former Ed supporter who then wrote in support of David Miliband on David’s website, and who is now supporting Ed Miliband again. Duxbury wrote:

“This is not the place to dwell on the reasons for that but one aspect of the campaign which I will comment on is the funding. It is crucial that the Party is able to raise funds and draw on support from all sections of society including business and large donors. However, I have to seriously question what impression we are giving the public if two or three major donors appear to be bankrolling one of the campaigns. When it comes to electing our Leader it feels inappropriate to me for two or three large donors to be able to provide funds which enable one candidate to gain a possible disproportionate advantage in their campaign.”

Ed also wrote to Labour Councillors today inviting them to become “Living Wage Leaders” in their communities.

This afternoon Ed made a flurry of media appearances about “The Big Society” on BBC News, Sky, The World at One and the Daily Politics, where he said:

“(The government) have, I believe, I’m afraid, a 19th century view which says that the state going out, withdrawing from services, will somehow enable the voluntary sector to flourish…Actually the truth of the last decade is the voluntary sector has flourished in partnership with the state.”

Ed also wrote an open letter to energy secretary Chris Huhne, in which he accused him of turning his back on green jobs.

DAVID MILIBAND today thanked supporters for the CLP support his campaign has achieved so far, as he celebrated breaking through the 100 CLP barrier. David currently has a substantial lead in CLP nominations, but with a week to go no one really knows whether or not that lead will be extended or hauled back by his brother – the only candidate within sight of him on nominations.

You can listen to David’s audioboo here:

David also spoke at a meeting as part of Save Our Schools Rally in parliament mentioned above and tweeted his support for their campaign. He later took part in a Facebook chat, with the same group Ed Miliband did last week: I bet I can find a million people who don’t want David Cameron as our PM.

DIANE ABBOTT was praised today in an editorial for the Guardian, which said:

“The candidates to lead the party all claim they want to learn the lessons of the past, and move towards a future in which Labour is the sole progressive force. But only the outsider Diane Abbott has thus far shown much appreciation of the linkage between the party’s waning popular appeal and its seeming indifference to freedom. A black woman, Ms Abbott appreciates that civil liberties are not the preserve of some imagined chatterati, but of pressing practical importance at the bottom of the heap. The other candidates would be well advised to give that some thought. The tide is turning towards liberty, and a Labour party that swum against it would deservedly sink.”

ANDY BURNHAM was given vocal support by MEP Brian Simpson today, who is rapidly becoming one of Burnham’s most prominent supporters. Writing for LabourList, Simpson said:

“I will be supporting Andy Burnham for leader of the Labour Party because I firmly believe he has the right leadership qualities to take the Party back to Government. Andy belongs to no faction; he was loyal to both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown when they were Prime Minister, and unlike others, he spent his time trying to implement Labour Party policy in government as opposed to undermining our Prime Minister at crucial stages of the last government.”

That final barb, so obviously flung at opposing candidates, is a powerful one. One wonders whether or not the Burnham campaign authorised such an important surrogate as Simpson to attack former ministers in such a way. If so – will Burnham launch a similar attack soon? That would certainly bring some fireworks to the race, and Burnham has been the quickest to attack his old friends in the race so far…

All in all, a fascinating Day in the Race.