Today, ballots for the Labour Leadership contest are being sent out to party members. I can probably expect mine to drop through the letterbox later this week.
Here’s the list of candidates:
- David Miliband
- Ed Miliband
- Ed Balls
- Andy Burnham
- Diane Abbott
My vote will be for Andy Burnham so I thought I’d set out the reasons why.
I’m a new Labour Party member, I joined immediately after the 2010 General Election and I wrote about the reasons for joining here. It’s also my first political affiliation of any kind.
When I first drafted this post I started to outline my reasons for not voting for candidates other than Andy Burnham. The post started to have a negative feel to it and that’s not what I’m trying to outline here. You see one of the five candidates is going to be the next Labour Party leader and will garner my support no matter which one of the five it is. Whoever it is will hopefully be the next Prime Minister and the entire party must get behind them. Whilst I have made up my mind, there are many attributes of the other candidates that I admire and support. So I’ll concentrate on why I have made Andy Burnham my preferred candidate.
Firstly, Andy is the candidate I most identify with. He didn’t grow up with a privileged background and was the first member of his family to attend University. When he talks he gives the impression that he really understands the needs of both grass roots Labour Party members and working class people in general. If he wasn’t a politician I could imagine knowing him socially. He could be a member of my Cricket Club. He could be the bloke in the next office that I natter to at lunch time. He could be any decent guy that you know and like in your social or work circle. I can imagine that if I were a politician, I’d be like Andy.
So OK I like the guy, but what about his ability to lead the Labour Party and to be a future Prime Minister. Well, I think he’d be a breath of fresh air. I can imagine him at PMQs facing Cameron. We’d have the stage managed, privileged, cosmetic politician who hasn’t got a clue about the lives of ordinary people, versus a bloke that not only understands ordinary people, he actually is one. Andy could completely engage voters who may have strayed away from Labour in the aftermath of New Labour because, as Andy says, he’s not New or Old Labour, he’s True Labour. A real representative of the majority of ordinary working class people leading the people’s party. Fighting for the aspirations of us all in our Parliament.
I keep thinking about a BBC series called The Amazing Mrs Pritchard. Mrs Pritchard, played by Jane Horrocks, was a Supermarket Manager who, feeling disenfranchised from the political process, formed her own party called The Purple Alliance. She swept to power, ousting Tony Blair and became Prime Minister. She won the election because people saw themselves in her and liked what they saw. One of them, one of us leading the country. Isn’t that what politics is supposed to be about?
I know, Andy Burnham is now a career politician and not a complete political newcomer, but the similarities between him and Mrs Pritchard are there for all to see, commonsense values and social aspiration.
I think Andy Burnham is the man to rally the party and then country to return Labour to Government. Just think about him stood on the steps of Number 10 after a Labour election victory. A working class man ready to lead our country. What a wonderful prospect for us all. The Tories wouldn’t know what’d hit them.
Two Horse Race
The media have built this election contest into being a two-horse race between the Miliband brothers. It suits them because it makes a great story on the front pages. Brother versus Brother, simmering sibling rivalry. They must be rubbing their hands together. I’m convinced this leads to people thinking they have to pick one of the two favourites. Everybody wants to back a winner and in a two-horse race, you’ve a 50/50 chance of being a winner. Except it’s not a two-horse race, there are three other candidates.
I know a little bit about horse racing. In the 2010 Gold Cup at Cheltenham, the media built the race up as the show-down between two great rivals, Kauto Star and Denman. Both mighty stallions and powerhouses of National Hunt racing. The racing press were in a frenzy about which one of the two was going to triumph over the other. What happened? Kauto Star fell and Denman ran out of petrol leaving the race to be won by the younger Imperial Commander. It’s where all the clever money was placed and it was a great victory.
There’s no such thing as a two horse race.
When you get your ballot paper this week, please give your first preference to Andy Burnham. Andy’s leadership will give a fresh look to British Politics to which everyone can relate.
