Concern about how the Labour leadership contest has been run is spreading throughout the party. The former home secretary Charles Clarke, who has voted Kendall 1st, Cooper 2nd and Burnham 3rd, told Newsnight he was very disappointed in the contest and raised the prospect of legal challenges to the result:
‘I think it’s been a disaster unfortunately. I am very sad about it. I wrote about it immediately after the election — it was very important to get through to have a process where people had confidence in the election process.
‘We’ve got legal challenges, I think there may be still further legal challenges about the process; issues about who can, who can’t vote. Many party members who’ve been active for years distressed to see people campaigning against the party with an equal vote to them in these circumstances and I think we’ve made a series of mistakes.’
Clarke singled out Labour’s National Executive Committee, Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband to blame for the situation:
‘I think the National Executive Committee … I don’t think Harriet has done it very well.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in