This week's New Statesman has got a headline on the front page saying: Ed Miliband, Labour's next leader. That sounded interesting, so I thought I'd take a look. It turns out it refers to an article inside that reports the views of 20 politicians or commentators on the left who were asked who should lead Labour after the election.
These exercises don't prove much at all, but they're quite enjoyable for those who like speculating about the Labour leadership, and the NS has at least managed to contact some sensible people.
Quite how they decided that Ed Milband came top I don't know. The man named by most contributors as the person who should lead Labour after the election was Gordon Brown.
Ed Milband received the next highest number of nominations (two), but he shared second place with his brother, David. You could just about argue that Ed did better because he was backed by Roy Hattersley, the Labour's former deputy leader, but Jason Cowley, the NS editor did not endorse anyone in the article he wrote to accompany the feature.
For the record, here are the results of the NS ring-round:
Gordon Brown: three nominations (Billy Hayes, CWU leader, Charlie Whelan, Brown's former spin doctor, and Peter Wheeler, Labour NEC member).
Ed Miliband: two nominations (Roy Hattersley and David Marquand, former Labour MP).
David Miliband: two nominations (Lord Desai, Labour peer, and former Downing Street spin doctor Lance Price).
Jon Cruddas: one nomination (Neal Lawson, Compass chair), although Frank Field says Cruddas should be the next deputy leader.
Harriet Harman: one nomination (Stefanos Stefanou, Labour donor).
James Purnell: one nomination (Frank Field).
Yvette Cooper: one (tentative) nomination (from Fabian Society general secretary Sunder Katwala, who does not actually back her but imagines her winning).
Lord Mandelson: one nomination (from Melvyn Bragg, assuming Mandelson can resign from the Lords).
Eight of those contacted by the NS refused to answer the question on the grounds that it is premature. Obviously that is the most sensible stance to stance to take, although it does spoil the fun.
