A day in the race: September 10th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

As the candidates head towards the penultimate weekend of GOTV, today was a quieter day in the race. As the Co-op Party are guest editing LabourList this weekend, “In the race” will also be taking a brief hiatus, before returning for the final race to the finishing line on Monday.

DAVID MILIBAND picked up more endorsements, and the support of another MP today. 105 former PPCs wrote an open letter in support of David, saying:

“We recognise that historically following a general election loss our party has languished in opposition for a number of years, unable to effect the changes our country needed. We therefore feel strongly that we must elect a leader who can buck this trend, reconnect Labour with voters and lead us to victory at the next election.”

He also picked up the support today of Dennis Skinner MP, a man rarely short of words. Speaking through former MP Dan Norris, because he “doesn’t have an ‘effing website'”, Skinner said:

“For many Labour people, this hasn’t been an easy election to call. All of the candidates are of the centre left, they are all Labour. That isn’t the issue here.”

“The big question is who are the Tories afraid of? Who is the best candidate to stand up against Cameron at the dispatch box? Who has the best chance to beat Cameron in an election?”

“For me the best choice is David Miliband and that is why I will be supporting him as next Labour leader.”

David also launched a mini-manifesto – or Milifesto, if you must – that you can read here.

ED MILIBAND revealed his “secret weapon” today in an interview with politics.co.uk – his volunteers. However they’re only a secret if you haven’t been concentrating/listening – Ed has been keen to play up the role of his volunteers for quite some time now. In the interview he said:

“We’ve had four or five thousand people making phone calls on my behalf. We’ve had phone banks in over 20 cities most evenings and we’ve had a system where for the last three months anyone can make a phone call on my behalf just from their home, using an online database system.”

“With those 4,000 volunteers, we think most of them were not a member of the Labour Party before. They’re mainly young people. I think it’s about the message of change in my campaign. I feel I’ve got the momentum in this campaign. I feel like, particularly in the last few weeks, I have an increasing sense of things moving in our direction.”

I’m slightly sceptical that there are 4/5000 volunteers working consistently on the campaign – that’s 2/3% of the whole party – but I’m not sure whether I’m just being cynical, or whether these are ‘potential’ or occasional volunteers. Even so it seems certain that this is the largest volunteer force in play in this contest, which could make all of the difference is turning out the vote and winning second preferences…

Ed also responded to proposed cuts to police numbers, saying:

“Everyone accepts the need for cuts in spending, but the public want a government which protects frontline services on which they depend. This government is now clearly breaking their promises to do that and it is the police and our communities who are paying the price.”

“Rather than sacking police officers George Osborne should take the advice of the IMF and increase the levy on the banks to protect vital services that people rely on. This isn’t about tackling waste and inefficiency – it’s a cut that will only benefit criminals.”

ED BALLS spent today in his constituency talking to local voters. Nice socks there Ed, but I’m not sure about the colour.

Tonight he’ll be appearing on Any Questions on Radio 4.

Ed also commented on plans to privatise the Post Office, which he has been campaigning on with his CWU supporters:

“I believe we should keep the Royal Mail in the public sector and providing a universal service, as Labour promised in our manifesto and as the majority of the public support.”

“There are big challenges ahead, but Royal Mail and the CWU have made massive strides to agree tough modernisation plans which should be allowed to continue.”

Tomorrow Balls will be at the Co-op Conference in Cardiff, before holding a members meeting in Woking.

ANDY BURNHAM‘s team have today sought to flag up his webchat with our friends over at the Demos Open Left project, which you can see here.

You can also watch a video from behind the scenes on the Burnham battle bus – including some lookalikes…I shall say no more…

DIANE ABBOTT appears to have had a quiet day in the leadership race today – but we understand her campaign team have been hard at phone canvassing, and will continue to do so over the weekend.