Sheila Gilmore MP nominated Diane Abbott in order to ensure that the Labour Party membership had the widest possible basis of candidates to chose from during this leadership election.
She has now become the first Scottish Labour MP to open up the leadership contest to Labour voters in her constituency, and the first UK Labour MP to offering online voting.
Voting will run until Friday 20 of August, and be conducted by first past the post. The number of votes each candidates gets will determine who Sheila’s first, second, third and so on preferences go to.
Why is she doing this? Because like me, she believes the Labour party needs a strong leader who carries the support and faith of all Labour minded people across the country, not just those of us with red cards in our wallets.
To find out exactly how she’s doing it, take a look at her website and in particular her Guide to the Edinburgh East Primary.
Bassetlaw CLP broke new ground with their primary, but Edinburgh East CLP are taken things a step further with an online voting function ensuring that all 17000 people who voted for Sheila can take part – regardless of whether we know who they are.
As an MP, Sheila’s vote is worth that of 1000s of Labour party members and 10,000s of trade union members. In opening the leadership contest to them, Sheila Gilmore is placing her trust in the very people that put faith in her.
Fingers crossed, this exercise will show, in action rather than words, that the Labour party really is listening. That is critical in my view because of the growing danger that this long leadership contest becomes a navel-gazing vanity project.
There is no escaping the brutal reality; this leadership election is stale and uninspiring.
Whilst the five candidates go through motions of hustings after hustings, rehashing 60 second gambits and polishing their one-liners, the ConDem government sails along, without the heat and forensic scrutiny that a focused Labour opposition could be providing.
What the country needs is a Labour contest focused on who is best pleased to take on and defeat not just David Cameron, but this restructuring of the right. What we have is an exercise in spot the difference, whilst Rome burns.
By opening up the party to those individuals who voted Labour, we can let them structure the terms of debate and discovering the issues which matter to them.
I personally hope that all the leadership candidates will actively engage with this primary, reaching out to Labour voters and local media. Promoting the primary itself, membership of the party and the new progressive politics that all candidates are united in building together.
Perhaps if more MPs across the country opened up their voting rights to the people that put them there, we would see the Labour leadership contest ignite.
Because the ultimate prize is not to inspire a hackish and politically aware activist base, but to win the trust of, and give voice to, the people we came into politics to serve.
This is madness. The Liberal wing (“Power 2010” types) have finally taken over the asylum. In olden days monarchs picked those who represented others. Then it was landowners and squires. Once we had industrialised it was the millowners and the factory owners who selected those who were going to represent the rest of us. This primary nonsense just hands that power to the newspaper editors, and they have way too much influence already. Lots of freedoms we enjoy are important: habeas corpus, of expression, of the press, of assembly, of information. Just as important as all of those is Freedom of Association. Provided no laws are being broken, the selection of Labour Party candidates for office is a private matter for the Labour Party and no one else. If I were an Tory elector in Edinburgh East I’d be voting for Diane Abbott too. Much like as a Labour voter I’d vote for the worst possible candidate in any Tory leadership election campaign to give Labour the best chance of beating them.