A day in the race – August 25th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Today saw reaction to the IFS report, which labelled the recent budget “regressive”, a flurry of emails from leadership campaigns, and another MP swinging behind David Miliband – and it’s a big one.

DAVID MILIBAND today gained the support of yet another crucial MP, and one that may be significant for the campaign as a whole. Influential back bencher Jon Cruddas has backed David in an interview with the New Statesman. Speaking to the magazine, Cruddas said:

“I’m endorsing David because of a couple of contributions he has made – one was the column on Englishness he wrote (in the New Statesman). Another was his Keir Hardie Memorial Lecture. What was interesting to me about this was when he started talking about belonging and neighbourliness and community, more communitarian politics, which is where I think Labour has to go.”

Jon also wrote a post for David’s website, in which he admitted some differences with David, but underlined his support:

“Taking the fight to the coalition, and rebuilding a party that is ready again to govern will require a united Labour party. This is why I’m supporting David Miliband’s campaign for Leader of the Labour Party.”

“He has shown that he has the right stuff and is a good bloke. He has the patience, the strength and the convictions necessary to get the voting public listening to us again.”

“He won’t pick a fight on every issue, but when he does, it will matter. David Miliband is someone who can lead a credible opposition to the coalition government and build a party that is united for the first time in a decade.”

“I’ll be honest – there are a fair few things where David and I don’t agree. We hail from different backgrounds within Labour. But we both understand the need for new leadership and a new start.”

Tonight David gave a speech which his campaign had trailed as his most important of the leadership campaign so far. Although much of the thrust of the speech was about pride in Labour’s record, there was also a sense that David sees things in the recent record of the party that he would seek to change:

“We need to learn the right lessons. Proud of our record, humble about our mistakes too.”

“Tony and Gordon did great things. Really great things. But I know that in Tony’s time he did not focus on income inequalities, stopped devolution at Scotland and Wales when we should have carried it on, and too often defined himself against the party not against the Tories.”

“Gordon was wrong about the 10p rate, and wrongfooted in debates about the role of the state and the importance of crime and security as Labour issues. Both of them underestimated the extent to which the problems of the British economy had not been resolved by the 1980s.”

You can read the full speech here.

Speaking to Sky News today, DAVID MILIBAND accused George Osborne of “double talk” over the budget, saying:

“It’s a double whammy on the people of Britain because we’re going to be poorer as a result, growth is down, employment down even on the government’s own figures, and we’re going to be a more divided country. That’s not the sort of Britain I want to see….The report today is an absolute torpedo at the claims that were made by George Osborne in the budget. He said he’d be straight talking but in fact it turns out there was double talk not straight talk because you can’t quarrel with the IFS.”

His campaign website has also had a revamp, no doubt in anticipation of increased traffic as the contest heats up and ballot papers hit doormats. To celebrate the revamp, his campaign launched a new, slick video of David and his campaign, which you can see here:

While his brother was endorsed by Jon Cruddas in the New Statesman, ED MILIBAND was today endorsed by the New Statesman. In a blog on their website, Mehdi Hasan said:

“I am pleased to inform you all that the New Statesman has decided to back Ed Miliband for the Labour leadership.”

“But let’s be clear: we believe that both Miliband brothers would make decent, able and progressive prime ministers, and could lead Labour to victory over the Con-Lib coalition at the next election. And there was much debate, discussion and agonising, here in the New Statesman offices, with different members of the team backing different candidates. In the end, however, we agreed that Ed Miliband best represents the historic ideals, values and ambitions of this magazine.”

The leader, published tomorrow, will say that Ed Miliband “has been most prepared to challenge New Labour orthodoxies”.

Today Ed’s campaign team released a video featuring his campaign team and supporters:

Ed also sought to draw a line under his views on gay marriage equality today in an article for Pink News:

“I want to see heterosexual and same-sex partnerships put on an equal basis and a Labour Party that I lead will campaign to make gay marriage happen.”

“I also want Labour to lead where in the past it has failed to do so. We were wrong while in government not to overturn the ban on gay men donating blood. Many gay men would be very low risk donors, exactly the kind we need to encourage to address shortages in blood and many other countries run very safe systems without such a ban. I’m determined to find a better way of ensuring blood is safe.”

And in response to a (perceived) attack from his brother, Ed issued a press release this evening, asking other candidates to take “special care to continue our debate in the spirit we started out. I will continue to conduct this campaign in that spirit.”

ED BALLS was the first to react to the IFS report this morning, releasing a statement in which he said:

“So much for the Tory-Lib Dem coalition’s promise to be a family friendly government. It is hard to think of any government in the history of our welfare state that has hit children and poor families so heavily and so fast.”

“While Labour’s budgets saw hundreds of thousands of children lifted out of poverty, this Tory-Lib Dem budget will see the poorest families with children lose more than any other group. This report is the final nail in the coffin for George Osborne’s claims to have delivered anything but the most regressive Budget in a generation.”

Ed also received the full throated support of Ken Livingstone today, which could be influential with Ken supporters voting in the mayoral contest at the same time as the leadership election. In his email to Ed Balls’ supporters, Ken said:

“I’m asking you to give your first preference to the candidate I believe is best placed to be Labour leader – Ed Balls. “

“As Mayor of London I worked with dozens of Labour Ministers. But Ed Balls impressed me as someone who could really get things done in government.”

“He’s Labour through and through and is committed to strengthening the trade union link. And he’s shown over the last few months that he is the candidate best placed to shorten the life of this Tory-Lib Dem government.”

However, there was a telling paragraph further down the email, in which Ken indicated who else he favours in the leadership, and those who, by omission, he won’t even be voting for:

“I know all of the candidates well – and they all have their strengths. I will be voting for three candidates – Ed Balls, Diane Abbott and Ed Miliband. My first preference will go to Ed Balls. I hope you’ll consider giving him your support too.”

DIANE ABBOTT wrote for the Independent today, responding to recent debate within the Labour Party, and outlining her view of how best Labour can best renew and reach out to the voters it has lost:

“There was a ubiquitous television advert for sweets in the 1980s where the catch line featured an endearing moppet saying “Don’t forget the fruit gums mum!” You no longer see this ad. But the right of the Labour Party has its own ubiquitous recurring theme where someone pops up and says “Don’t forget the middle classes!” The latest tribune of the right to utter this sentiment is my leadership rival David Miliband…. All the evidence is that Middle England is as heartily sick of “New Labour” as anyone else. It is a marketing brand that has outstayed its welcome. If we took a pragmatic view on policy, rather than running like scared rabbits from anything that might be tagged “left wing”, we might be surprised what Middle England might support… We do not have to choose between appealing to middle-class and working-class voters. It is bogus to pretend that anybody is suggesting this. But only when we leave the “New Labour” era behind will voters of all classes be willing to trust us again.”

ANDY BURNHAM was in Bridgend today as his battlebus tour continues. He’s appeared to be gaining momentum recently – but he can’t afford many more days of media silence like this before ballot papers drop next week.

Day in the race will be taking a break for a few days, but it’ll be back on Monday with all of the news and views as we near the ballot date…