A day in the race – August 30th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Today may have been quiet in the world of work as most people spent the day gardening, sleeping or watching “Three Men and a Baby”, but in the Labour leadership race there was a sudden flurry of action, as a Lord returned to the fray…

ED MILIBAND was the subject of Mandelson’s return to the leadership contest today, and suggested in an interview with the Times this morning that electing Ed would result in an electoral cul-de-sac for the party. Writing exclusively for LabourList this evening, Ed Miliband’s agent Sadiq Khan MP responded to Mandelson, saying:

“Peter falls into the trap of making misunderstanding Ed Miliband’s position and makes an unfair caricature of Ed’s campaign by saying that he is dumping on our record in government or appealing only to Labour’s so-called “core vote”.”

“What we achieved in government, we should be very proud of, but what Ed rightly says is that we lost our radicalism on some issues and were too afraid of the ghosts of our past, so took the wrong course on some other issues. If we don’t own up to where we didn’t get it right, then surely we stand no chance of putting back together the winning coalition that we need, in order to kick out the ConDem coalition.”

Ed has so far kept away from the argument, spending today campaigning in Carlisle. Tomorrow is his “Call for change” event – more on that in tomorrow’s coverage from the leadership race.

DAVID MILIBAND was today hosting the largest event of his “Movement for Change” campaign today, with a rally of over 1000 supporters at the Emmanuel Centre in London today. You can read David’s speech on his website. Before the event David recorded the following Audioboo:

David reacted to the event afterwards on Twitter, saying:

“Remarkable, moving, inspiring Movement for Change rally in Westminster. Real people, real politics.”

His campaign team also tweeted the following photo from the event:

Earlier today, David was in West Bromwich, where he became the first UK politician to open a Hindu temple.

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ANDY BURNHAM rode his battlebus back to his home patch in the North West today, and attended Manchester Pride. Later Andy was in Bootle, before heading out on the doorstep for a by-election in Ormskirk. While he was in Manchester, Andy recorded the following video:

Andy also followed several of his fellow leadership candidates by seeking to reach out to Lib Dems today – however Andy isn’t seeking their votes, he’s looking for their help to defend the NHS. In his letter to the Lib Dems, Andy said:

“This plan is much more radical and dangerous than the GP fundholding reforms of the last Conservative government. There is rising anxiety in the NHS about it.”

“You hold the key to the future of our NHS. I do not believe that the people who voted for you at the election voted for such a radical break-up plan. I urge you to listen to them and stand up for our NHS in the face of this attack, which threatens to unpick its very fabric.”

DIANE ABBOTT was on WATO today, commenting on Peter Mandelson’s latest foray into the leadership campaign. Abbott said:

“Lord Mandelson is a man of great talent, but he has got to accept his era is over and the public do not want to return to the spin, the triangulation, the internecine warfare” she said.”

On the subject of second preferences, Diane said she said she is asking supporters:

“to go out and get one more vote for me, because I believe I can still win… I’m not ready to declare for a second preference. I don’t rule it out.”

ED BALLS was campaigning in Bolton today with David Causby MP.

Tomorrow Ed will be hosting a housing event with Ken Livingstone, shadow employment minister Yvette Cooper and shadow housing minister John Healey.