Labour candidates go head-to-head
Monday, 7 June 2010 1:40 PM
By Ian Dunt
The candidates in the race to become the next leader of the Labour party have finally gone head-to-head, just days before the nomination process closes.
The six candidates appealed to delegates at the GMB union's annual conference in the afternoon, before going before fellow Labour MPs this evening.
During the afternoon event, John McDonnell told members the best way to imporve life in the 1980's would have been to assasinate Margaret Thatcher - a remark which prompted instant condemnation from Conservatives.
But tt is the evening session which offers the most opportunity for a game-changing moment in the campaign, with only three candidates having already secured enough support to appear on the ballot paper.
Andy Burnham, former health secretary, is still 12 votes short of the 33 MP nominations required. He is hoping to use tonight's event to boost the tail end of his campaign, with a focus on "uneven life chances in this country".
Diane Abbott and Mr McDonnell, both far to the left of the other candidates on offer, are well behind with seven and ten supporters respectively.
At the top end of the table, Ed Balls and David Miliband made important statements to media outlets over the weekend. Mr Balls focused on immigration, with comments that he had warned Gordon Brown not to sweep immigration under the carpet at the general election.
"I said to him that you should be talking about immigration in the last year and a half and that we were making a mistake by brushing it under the carpet," he told the Politics Show.
"To be honest, I think Gordon's answer to Mrs Duffy showed he'd not been having the conversation, because what she said was the kind of things being said by Labour supporters, and in some cases former Labour supporters over the last year and a half."
Meanwhile, David Miliband appeared on the Andrew Marr programme to brand deputy prime minister Nick Clegg a "hypocrite" for his cuts agenda in power.
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