Tuesday 6 July 2010

Brussels boost for Ed Miliband

Ed Miliband has won the endorsement of Glenis Willmott, leader of Labour's MEPs.

She combined her endorsement with praise for the four (out of five) Labour leadership candidates who accepted the invitation to meet the party's MEPs in Brussels.


Following the invitation from Labour MEPs to all the candidates for the leadership, we were delighted that four of them came to Brussels to speak to Labour MEPs, MEPs’ staff, and the Brussels Labour Party.

All four proved themselves to be excellent candidates. They showed a solid grasp of the issues which Labour’s MEPs have to deal with, with strong ideas about how we can reform our party and tackle the extremes of the new coalition government. All of us were impressed by the high quality of the candidates and we would be more than happy to serve under the leadership of such individuals.


Wilmott's statement is curiously diplomatic in that it does not directly identify Diane Abbott as the candidate who snubbed the Labour MEPs' invitation, as Next Left revealed last week.

That has left Abbott trailing Ed Miliband (with five) and David Milband (with four), who have the bulk of Labour MEP supporting nominations, with Andy Burnham on one, and three MEPs yet to declare.

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