Abbott secures place as Labour leadership candidate
By Ian Dunt
Diane Abbott, the first black woman to sit in parliament, is now officially a candidate in the Labour leadership contest after a dramatic morning in Westminster.
The final day for nominations began with the surprise decision by John McDonnell to stand down. The two left-wingers had been struggling to secure the required support of 33 MPs and Mr McDonnell believed he could give his 16 votes to Ms Abbott.
“It is now clear that I am unlikely to secure enough nominations and so I am withdrawing in the hope that we can at least secure a woman on the ballot paper,” he said in a statement.
Speaking to Sky News later, the veteran left-winger, who also tried to start a leadership campaign against Gordon Brown, said the party had shot itself in the foot.
“I think actually we’ve shot ourselves in the foot again, because we won’t have that wide-ranging debate,” he said.
“But my disappointment is for the party as well, you know this time round they told us that, the Labour leadership told us, that they wanted a wide-ranging debate with a full range of candidates from all wings of the party and that’s why I stood.”
The nominating stage of the process ended at 12:30 BST, when it was announced that Andy Burnham – started the day two votes short of the requirement – had also made it onto the ballot paper.
Ex-children’s secretary and Gordon Brown confidant Ed Balls, former foreign secretary David Miliband and ex-energy secretary Ed Miliband remain the leading contenders for the contest, whose result will be announced on September 25th.
David Miliband had announced he would give his own vote to Ms Abbott so the final range of candidates could be as broad as possible.
“Gather John McDonnell pulled out,” he tweeted. “I’m going now to nominate Diane myself. Encourage others to do the same.”
Meanwhile, Ed Miliband wrote in the Mirror that he would keep the new top rate of 50% income tax on high earners.
“There is a risk that the government will seek to remove the top rate too soon,” he said.
“I would keep it in place because it ensures a fair contribution from people who earn in a year what many people earn in a decade.”
Acting leader Harriet Harman welcomed the contest that would now unfold.
“This will be the biggest and most widespread election of any political party or any organisation in this country,” she said.
“The contest will be open engaging and energising. It will be a chance to invite supporters to join the party to have a vote.”
Ms Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, was the only black female member of parliament for ten years, until the arrival of Oona King in 1997.
A firm left-winger, her public profile is reliant on her appearances on the Daily Politics programme with Michael Portillo.
She received considerable criticism for sending her children to private school, despite campaigning against them for most of her life. But she retains considerable support on the left, and from constituents, due to the large body of case work she takes on.
