David Miliband leads Labour race
By politics.co.uk staff
Shadow foreign secretary David Miliband was the strongest candidate as supporting nominations for the Labour leadership race closed.
Mr Miliband won more nominations from MPs and constituency Labour party (CLP) branches than any other candidate.
But his brother Ed Miliband was close behind on both measures, taking 63 MPs to David Miliband’s 81 MPs and 148 CLPs compared to David Miliband’s 165 CLPs.
The shadow energy and climate change secretary won the support of six trade unions, compared to just two for David Miliband. The pair both attracted the backing of six members of the European parliament.
Of the remaining three contenders, who all received the minimum required support of 33 MPs, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham appeared the strongest.
He was supported by 44 CLPs, compared to 20 CLPs for left-wing outsider Diane Abbott and just 17 CLPs for shadow education secretary Ed Balls.
The result of the election will be announced on September 25th, before the beginning of the party’s autumn conference in Manchester.
