A day in the race: August 17th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

A much busier day in the leadership race today, as a real sense of life returns to the race. All of the campaigns have been active in one way or another today – including the campaign of the only candidate still on holiday.

As a Guardian/ICM poll sees Labour draw level with the Tories for the first time in months, the race to be the next party leader, and the next Prime Minister, is still very much on.

ED BALLS isn’t even back from his holidays yet (he returns tomorrow) but his campaign released a video today, called Ed Balls talks:

Ed Balls also attacked George Osborne over his speech this afternoon, saying:

“George Osborne is denying basic economics and the lessons of history. He risks repeating the catastrophic mistakes of the 1930s and 1980s when the government’s deflationary policies led to a slump not recovery. By cutting the deficit this quickly and this sharply thousands of public and private sector jobs will be lost, the recovery could be stalled and we risk a double-dip recession. George Osborne got the big judgement wrong three years ago when we took action to stop recession turning into depression. He is making the wrong calls again now.”

Balls is back tomorrow, and heads off on his tour of the country on Thursday. If this is how busy he is when he’s away, we await with interest how much campaigning he does when he’s back full-time…

ED MILIBAND sent out another fundraising email this afternoon, as his campaign seek to raise further small donations as we get closer to the distribution of ballot papers. The email seems designed to hammer home the message that we picked up on yesterday, that of momentum, as Political Scrapbook have already noted.

The email is tied into the themes behind Ed’s Fabian essay, and also indirectly attacks David Miliband as the big money candidate:

“In recent weeks, thousands of Labour Party members, trade unionists and people from across our broad progressive movement have signed up to support our growing campaign for the Labour leadership. I’m humbled and grateful that over 4,000 volunteers have signed up to be part of the change we need in our party, and that over 700 people have given what they can to support our campaign.”

“As a result of your hard work, and your generosity, we are now within touching distance of winning this election.”

“But we are still up against opponents with big money backing — and to make our effort pay in the final crucial weeks of this election, we need your help.”

Speaking to Radio 4 this afternoon Ed said that the party must put factionalism, but not debate, behind it. He also said he’d have prefered the party to have gone further at times:

“I think I would’ve liked to have gone further on the future of the bank system and found ways of creating banks of the future… I would’ve gone further by creating a living wage, not just a minimum wage, but I take my responsibility.”

The Guardian also released the video of Ed’s interview with Polly Toynbee.

DAVID MILIBAND today received the backing of 25 former Labour MPs, all of whom lost their seats at the last election. The list includes former minister Ruth Kelly, and is being used by his campaign to show that many in the party feel he is best placed to win seats such as these back. In response, David said:

“If Labour is to buck the historical trend of being out of power for an average of 10 years when we lose office we must win these seats back at the next election. I am grateful to my colleagues who fought hard in their seats at the last election for putting their trust in me as the person most likely to win again for them and Labour. I have visited many of these seats during this leadership election to listen and learn from people who didn’t vote Labour. We must win these people back, we must listen to what they are telling us and we need to be the party that represents their voice against a coalition government that is threatening the economic future of this country.”

David followed Ed Balls in attacking George Osborne’s attempts to “rewrite history”, before heading to an event at Walthamstow Town Hall to celebrate Pakistani Independence with around 450 other guests. Lord Ahmed will also give him his backing at tonight’s event which is being attended by foreign and community press.

ANDY BURNHAM continued his battlebus tour today, but still had time to write an exclusive article for LabourList – “The old politics of New Labour”, in which he said:

“One of the problems with New Labour was that it was born of a distrust of its own members. It developed a controlling, top-down style with a small elite deciding how things would be. It’s no way to run any modern organisation, least of all a political party.”

“Over time, it produced a situation where the party’s grassroots became demoralised by a lack of real influence and power to change things. Ordinary members often disagreed with the actions of the party’s elite but felt frustrated at an inability to hold them to account.”

“People join parties to change things. A party that doesn’t offer that possibility will shed members, lose touch and place itself on a path towards irrelevance.”

“So, now, I’m fighting for, and seeking your support to build, a different kind of Labour Party. It’s time to rebuild our party from the bottom up.”

DIANE ABBOTT had a quiet day today, but she was the first to react to Osborne’s talk of “fair” cuts this morning, when she tweeted:

“Just heard “Slasher” Osborne on R4 trying to pretend his cuts will make Britain fairer and more equal.”