How the unions may have upped the Ed Miliband vote
I first revealed a few weeks ago that Unite had got around the Ray Collins (Labour general secretary) ban on putting pro-Ed Miliband literature in the same envelope as the ballot papers sent to its members. It had just put the envelope inside a separate envelope; simples.
FT Political Betting: The Miliband Brothers
At the start of the week I explained that I was having trouble laying off my 7:1 bet on Ed Miliband because the bookies were obstinately keeping David as the clear favourite. That has now changed, and I’ll be placing a bet on the elder brother at 7/4 (Paddy Power) in order to secure a profit.
David is still expected to win the first round of voting today, with strong backing from MPs and activists if not union members. Yet Left Foot Forward, the left-wing political blog, is predicting that the younger brother would edge ahead by a single percentage point with the help of second preference votes. Read more
Vince speech has done him no harm
Except, perhaps, in the City of London.
Vince remains the public’s favourite Lib Dem politicians, according to research conducted for PoliticsHome. Read more
Labour’s new mayoral candidate is Ken Livingstone
It’s a contest that has been overshadowed by the main Labour leadership race. Even so, worth noting that Labour’s next challenger for London mayor is going to be Ken Livingstone. The result was announced 30 seconds ago by Harriet Harman. I’m not sure that Boris Johnson will be kept sleepless by the news, given that his popularity remains pretty high.
For all Ken’s qualities he is likely to be seen as yesterday’s man. (The 65-year old was mayor from 2000 to 2008 and first joined Lambeth Borough Council in 1971.) Read more
Further reading
Details of 177 quangos to be abolished – Telegraph
Ken Livingstone the favourite for Labour’s next mayoral candidate – Guardian
Liam Fox promises to keep nuclear deterrent - Times (£)
Harman says Labour should abandon Darling deficit reduction plan - FT
The political battle for southern England - Patrick Diamond and Giles Radice, FT
Labour gets £4.5m of short money this year – FT
No council tax revaluation for another five years – Telegraph Read more
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Jim Pickard is the FT's chief political correspondent, having joined the lobby team in January 2008. He has been at the FT since 1999 as a regional correspondent, assistant UK news editor and property correspondent.
Kiran Stacey is an FT political correspondent, having joined the lobby in 2011. He started at the FT as a graduate trainee in 2008, working on desks including UK companies and US equity markets before taking over the FT's Energy Source blog.
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