Left In

I do not see what is so diverse about Diane Abbott, who went to Cambridge and whose only jobs before politics were in the media, public relations, and lobbying.

Not only did Abbott get her mates in the media to pretend to make a fuss about John McDonnell's unremarkable lack of affection for Margaret Thatcher, but she has also been nominated by Denis MacShane and Chris Bryant. The Henry Jackson Society and, in MacShane's case, the Euston Manifesto Group obviously wanted her on the ballot so that her defeat could be held up as the defeat of opposition to their agenda.

Her nomination by David Miliband is not a surprise. She may not be blood, but she is still family to a Marxist dynast such as Miliband. Only the means are different, and not even all of them. If anything, she is more conservative than he is. She is certainly more Eurosceptical and pro-Commonwealth. Perhaps, like Bernie Grant, she will come out as a monarchist on Commonwealth grounds? No chance of that from Miliband...