Dennis Skinner has always been a left wing heavyweight, therefore, voting for DM makes Dennis Skinner look like a hypocrite.

Roy Hattersley once remarked about the choice between winning and moderating what you stand for. Moderating is fine, but when you go so far as to sell yourself out, there is (as Mr Hattersley correctly pointed out) no point in winning.

We love you Dennis, but on this, as on Cuba, you are wrong - Go for the other M.

I have news for you Mr Skinner, us Tories are not scared of anyone, hearts likes lyons! Fox hunting and hunting in the blue blood!

I refer to David Miliband as 'Mr Sound-bite', as he runs out 'Tony Blair sounding answers' all the time!

Bring on PMQ with David Miliband!

Boris Johnson for Major in 2012

Its a surprising choice; I would have thought that the 'left' would be solidly behind Dianne, even if its just for sentimental reasons.
But Skinner has thought long and hard about who is likely to come through the selection process and knows that Dianne will be eliminated early on. But thats no reason to endorse D Milliband publically. Skinner is not as 'left' as we thought. D Milliband has the same look as Clegg and Cameron; its going to be difficult for the public to tell them apart.

@Arthur Williamson

You wrote, "... Labour government should never have borrowed 200 billion pounds in the first place, which as we know, led to the national deficit."

Labour borrowed money to rescue the banks from their own folly. The cost was £850 billion on the government's books,

"The National Audit Office has concluded that the public support provided to UK banks by the Treasury was justified, given the scale of the economic and social costs if one or more major banks had collapsed. In providing that support, moreover, the Treasury met two of the government’s principal objectives: protecting depositors’ money in banks and maintaining the stability of the financial system. The final cost to the taxpayer will not, however, be known for a number of years.

"Today’s overview of the government’s response to the crisis shows that the purchases of shares by the public sector together with offers of guarantees, insurance and loans made to banks reached £850 billion, an unprecedented level of support."

http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/0910/uk_banking_system.aspx

Dave C

Thank you for correcting me on my figures, apologies for my mistake.

I hope you, and others reading this article, understand the point I am trying to convey. At the time when the Labour government borrowed so much money to support the banks, it was an unprecedented move. One sad result of this situation is the fact the Conservatives heavily criticised the Labour government`s decision to borrow so much money, and the fact Labour did so badly in the 2010 general election would suggest too many people among THE ELECTORATE have been taken in by the Tory`s financial spin. I am pleased to learn the fact the National Audit Office have vindicated the actions of the Labour government, HOWEVER, the National Audit Office don`t decide elections, it is the electorate, and when I talk about "winning the argument", I am referring to the percetpion shown by the electorate. Labour need to win back the argument and the only candidate who appears capable of winning is ED BALLS.

Yes, I saw that. Interesting news.

In Blair's memoirs, he says that Skinner was a useful source of advice and one liners for PMQs (he does say that they didn't agree on anything regarding policy).

Skinner is a regular in the Laughing Halibut chippy on Strutton Ground, which DM told the Evening Standard was his best discovery in London. Perhaps this was some kind of 'Laughing Halibut pact'!