David Miliband will fight the cuts, which is paramount. He has the intelligence, the heart, he is statesman-like and is very dashing. This may sound shallow, but I am being realistic about the leader we want to show on the world stage and I know David is the man for the job.He is the only one who can win an election and will really piss the tories off!

We must realise two things. Firstly, whatever Miliband wins, there is a chance that unless they have developed a credible strategy beyond Harmans brave but rather pedantic rhetoric of fighting every cut mentioned, they will be helpless against Cameron, and will possibly be the person who leads the country to a Tory Majority. We must face this reality that perhaps Labour needs some genuine new blood- the likes of Chuka Ummuna for example (though i hope he gets into the shadow cabinet).

The second reality is that whoever is picked must seem like a winner. Ed Miliband just seems very Natioan Union of Students-ish. The type of person who students vote for in terms of idealism, but offers little pragmatic approach. Ed M is admirable, intelligent and much more old-skool labour, but does he have the charisma, the balls or the public appeal to win ? Sadly, I dont think so. Im voting David M in the leadership race, though tbh, I reckon that we will still be in opposition for a long time.

Funny how they're all saying similar things yet David is the ONLY one who's campaigning on his own ideas ALONE without any obvious/hidden reference to other candidates at all!
He states that Labour and politics as a whole needs to change AND is offering credible methods in which to do so.
Not just talking the talk and using the back of other candidates history to gain votes but doing so on his own merit as he stands as a new leader.
Don't forget David Miliband didn't always see eye to eye with Tony Blair and New Labour - he had his own visions of a better party but has obviously never had the chance to get them out properly until now.
Gordon Brown didn't win in 2010 but Tony Blair did in 1997 - if you really want a comparison, I see what I see!
As the oldest sibling myself, it's always the eldest who has to rise above the youngest - ask any psychologist.
David's defending his brother who's got nothing more substantial than to wallow in the past and constantly talk about it with no real alternatives. Yes the past is important and we must learn from it good and bad - but we don't need to keep re-living it again and again.
This constant referring to New Labour is important to many I've no doubt, but as a relatively new Labour Party member it's putting me off!
I'm interested in what they've got to offer now - and that's why I am actually moving on with David Miliband as we speak.
He's head and shoulders above the rest and when you've met him, you'll see he's really genuine - I can vouch for that.

"When the Tao prevails in your own state, to be poor and obscure is a disgrace. But when the Tao does not prevail in your own state, to be rich and honored is a disgrace."

What good leadership, fame, riches and honour when the Tao does not prevail? David M's thirst for power is a disgrace, because he does not hold fast to the values which made the Labour movement a once great force for the common weal.Tha Labour Party is doomed under his leadership. As is progressive British Politics. New Labour has had its day!

Those who forget the past can never learn from their mistakes.
Nobody in the party wants to see a return to the 18 years of opposition, but world circumstances have changed since 97, and our people are hurting now. DM offers little beyond a rehashing of New Labour mantras, and as such is the candidate who is the heir to Peter Mandelson.
No thank you.

I have just listened to the first effective speech by a leadership contender. Ed Balls set out a believable vision for an Enabling (he didn't use this word) Labour administration. Worth a vote? Most definitely, yes!

The only candidate who emerges with any credit is Burnham; you don't get any bickering and cat fighting from him. Instead just plain common sense as to moving Labour forward with realistic and deliverable policies.
Yes we do want a break with the previous administrations, but we should remember and celebrate the many achievements as well as the few failures. Burnham is not part of the elite that led us to defeat, and he has little to apologise for. We need a dependable and solid leader, different in style from the gloss and floss of Cameron and Clegg.

I like and trust Ed Miliband and think he would be an excellent leader, but I do agree with Swatantra that we should remember and celebrate the many achievements of the last Labour Government. Much as I like Andy Burnham, I can't see him at PMQT. He did an excellent job with the NHS and still cares passionately about it, and I see that as his life work. Probably more important to the nation than him being PM one day.

Thinkov, I like a lot of your posts and think they raise some really good points. But the political spectrum has changed. This coalition is way too the right, but they are in power, that should tell us something of what the voters want.

Politics are, in my view, better when they are more centre ground. Not all left, not all right, it's about compromise. Labour has to have a mixture to appeal to the masses, that's the only way we are going to get elected, it's what kept us in for 13 years. What I'm sick of is the way our economy is being carved up for the predominant good of the better off in society, that's why we need to get this coalition out. We simply will not do that unless we make ourselves as electable as we were in 1997. What would be appalling is if we allowed this coalition to damage our social welfare state as it did over 18 years under the last Tory government to the point where there then had to be an alternative as a matter of necessity. They must be stopped in their tracks well before then, and it is only through adopting politics of compromise that we will be seen as a viable alternative now.

Thanks nick
I accept some of what you say

I'm much more persuaded that we need to gain the return of the pacifists,the liberals the civil libertarians ,the working class

not those abandoned us for the tories

There is room for a leftward turn in
many areas
I don't want us occupying the same ground as the tories on anything!