Historic day as last-minute support puts Diane Abbot into Labour leadership race

Published on Wednesday 9 June 2010 23:06

DIANE Abbott became the first black candidate for the leadership of a major political party in Britain yesterday as last-minute support from MPs saw her name added to the ballot.

• Andy Burnham, left, and David Miliband, are on the leadership ballot. Picture: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

The London Labour MP added some diversity to a contest where the other four candidates are white, Oxbridge-educated men in their 40s.

The left-wing MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington joins David and Ed Miliband, former children's secretary Ed Balls, and former health secretary Andy Burnham on the list.

All four of her opponents started their political careers as special advisers or researchers for the New Labour government after the 1997 election.

But Ms Abbott's presence on the ballot paper was only thanks to a late flurry of support after fellow left-winger John McDonnell quit the race and called on his backers to get behind her.

He said the leadership contest needed a woman candidate.

She also had backing from one of her rivals, David Miliband, who had already received more than the 33 nominations required, and won backing from acting leader Harriet Harman and former home secretary Jack Straw, though neither intend to vote for her.

One late supporter was Glasgow South West MP Ian Davidson, who switched his nomination from Mr McDonnell.

"It was important to get as wide a representation as possible in this contest," he said.

David Miliband said he was proud that his nomination had delivered a "historic day for diversity in Britain" by enabling a black woman to stand for the first time for the leadership of a major party.

Ms Abbott said she would stand out from the other candidates because of her "very different view on immigration", her record of opposition to the Iraq War, her determination to recapture the civil liberties agenda from the Conservatives and to oppose the new government's programme of cuts.

"Above all, having been in the party for 23 years, I know the importance of taking party members seriously and reconnecting with our grassroots," she said.

"I have never been a policy wonk. My parents left school at 14 and emigrated here in the 1950s. I am a single mother and I have spent 23 years working at every level in this party."

The candidates now face a gruelling 15-week campaign featuring dozens of hustings, speeches and TV and radio debates before Gordon Brown's successor is named on 25 September.

They lost no time in seeking to define their positions in the contest. In a speech in Leeds today shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband will present himself as the candidate best able to "turn the page from Blair and Brown".

"The question is who can really move us on from a politics that was too technocratic and managerial and stopped inspiring, to one rooted in our values, more optimistic about the change we can make happen," he is due to say.

"And from a culture in our party that stifled dissent and debate to one that really builds a movement that can win people to us head and heart."

In a pitch for traditional Labour heartland supporters, Mr Burnham yesterday admitted the party had appeared "seduced by power, money and glamour" and promised he would "really put the heart and soul back into Labour".

Mr Burnham said he came from a "very traditional Labour background" which would set him apart from the other candidates and make him a "distinctive and different voice" in the campaign.

Meanwhile, David Miliband presented himself as the best candidate to make Labour not only an effective opposition but also a credible "alternative government" in an election which he suggested could come as early as 2012.

The new leader will be chosen by an electoral college system delivering one-third of the vote each to MPs and MEPs; affiliated organisations including trade unions, and party members.

The result of the postal ballot, in which more than four million people have a vote, will be announced ahead of Labour's annual conference in Manchester.

Ms Harman described the exercise as "the biggest and most widespread election of any political party or any organisation in this country".