Mehdi Hasan: Labour leadership

Had David Miliband disowned the Iraq war during the summer-long Labour leadership campaign, he would now be leader of the Labour Party. I can't prove it, but, Nick-Robinson-style, I feel it in my "gut".

So it's rather ironic that the shadow foreign secretary, a prickly and insecure politician to begin with, and reeling from the shock of such a narrow defeat at the hands of his ... read more

In my interview with David Miliband in July in the magazine, I pushed the shadow foreign secretary on whether he'd quit the shadow cabinet if he lost to his younger brother, Ed, on 25 September. Mili-D replied, after some ducking and dodging of the original question:

I'm not walking away from the people of South Shields. I'm not walking away from the Labour Party . . ... read more

I am pleased to inform you all that the New Statesman has decided to back Ed Miliband for the Labour leadership.

But let's be clear: we believe that both Miliband brothers would make decent, able and progressive prime ministers, and could lead Labour to victory over the Con-Lib coalition at the next election. And there was much debate, discussion and agonising here in the New Statesman offices, with different members of ... read more

My colleague George Eaton has blogged about Andy McSmith's interview with Andy Burnham in today's Independent, in which the shadow health secretary and Labour leadership contender accused supporters of a rival candidate of "conducting 'malicious briefing' in the hope of getting him to throw in the towel".

From the Independent:

Mr Burnham said that he "nearly fell ... read more

In my G2 piece on the Labour leadership race, I wrote:

So far the contest has resembled a City boardroom. Two Eds. Two brothers. Plus Andy Burnham. All of them white, male, fortysomething, Oxbridge graduates.

Andy Burnham's father, Roy, has been in touch this morning to tell me he "is not happy" and is "annoyed" that I didn't make it clear to ... read more

My column in this week's New Statesman examines the Labour leadership race and says that it's time for the two Eds, Miliband Sr and Andy Burnham to "come clean" on their views. As Jon Cruddas has pointed out, do we really know what they stand for? What they believe?

I also have a lighter piece in today's Guardian read more

So Ed Balls has finally declared his candidacy for the leadership of the Labour Party. He is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the media's preferred candidate. And some Labour MPs, too, accuse him of being a bully, a schemer and a behind-the-scenes briefer, lacking in charisma, divisive, too close to Gordon Brown and an unreconstructed tribalist. But as I wrote on the Guardian's ... read more

James broke the story of how "a letter is being circulated among Labour MPs this afternoon calling for a secret ballot on Gordon Brown's leadership". It has now been confirmed that the two former cabinet ministers co-ordinating the ballot idea are indeed Geoff Hoon, the former transport and defence secretary, and Patricia Hewitt, the former health secretary.

But here's what's bugging me: why on earth should we ... read more