Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper are now vying for second place, while Liz Kendall appears to be far behind.
Advertisement
“As of earlier this week 243,000 new recruits had signed up since the election as either full members, affiliates or supporters taking the total number who can take part in the contest to over 400,000 with suggestions a later surge could see that figure reach half a million”.
Mr Danczuk said he believed at least a quarter of those who had applied to join his own local Labour party should be barred from voting.
Labour said the process of stopping bogus supporters from influencing the contest will continue once the deadline has passed. “One member, one vote”.
These include more than 200 people who stood as Green candidates, a Conservative MP, and filmmaker Ken Loach, who is a founder of the socialist Left Unity party.
But it seems that plan is backfiring (besides the fact that Jeremy Corbyn has actually become the most popular candidate), as Labour is discounting the registrations from anyone it identifies as not supporting Labour’s aims and values.
In the end, of course, Labour may vote for Cooper or Burnham.
Battered in May’s election – too conventional for Scotland, too implausible for England – Britain’s Labour Party is searching for a new impetus and contemplating a return to its working-class and trade-union roots.
What impact is his candidacy having on his party?
Facebook user Julian Townsend points out that really, it should be “putative” victory, not “tentative” victory.
The new system has prompted fears across Labour’s political spectrum that supporters of other parties could vote for a candidate that they believe would keep Labour in opposition at the 2020 general election.
Whichever of them gets it I will support, but it’s up to the members and Labour supporters to vote.
Advertisement
Corbyn was persuaded to put up his hand for the party leadership role to “widen the debate”, and he got the required 35 nominations from Labour members of Parliament only at the last minute, when some of them decided to throw a bone to the party’s activists. A party spokeswoman said the process was “fair and robust”.
