LONDON – One of the contenders for the British Labour Party leadership issued a last-minute plea yesterday for the party to change its rules to allow him to get on to the ballot paper for September’s election.
John McDonnell, who is struggling to secure the necessary 33 nominations from fellow MPs, said the threshold to take part in the election should be dropped from 12.5 per cent to 5 per cent of the parliamentary party, which equates to 13 MPs.
This would usher the left-winger, who currently has 16 nominations, and shadow health secretary Andy Burnham, with 31, on to the ballot paper alongside David Miliband, Ed Miliband and Ed Balls.
But it might still exclude the only woman and only ethnic minority candidate in the race, Diane Abbott, who yesterday received the nomination of acting leader Harriet Harman to bring her tally to 11.
With just two further nominations to secure by the deadline of 12.30pm today, Mr Burnham looks almost certain to make the leadership contest a four-horse race. He may even be helped over the threshold by David Miliband, who said last week he would offer his nomination to any of the hopefuls if it would make the difference to them appearing on the ballot paper.
Mr McDonnell and Ms Abbott however look highly unlikely to muster the necessary backing in the 18 hours remaining to them, without an unexpected change to the rules.
Ms Harman will not cast her vote in the ballot to choose a permanent successor to Gordon Brown, but said she was nominating Ms Abbott because she did not want to see a men-only contest. – (PA)