Who stood in the election to become the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party last year?

• Harriet Harman [the eventual winner]
• Peter Hain
• Alan Johnson
• Hilary Benn
• Hazel Blears
• Jon Cruddas

Two of these have already been in big problems over donations to their campaigns - Harriet Harman accepting £5,000 from a proxy donor, and Peter Hain failing to declare £103,000 to the Electoral Commission, culminating in him having to quit his job over it.

And now yet another of the candidates is being accused of having donation problems over his campaign - Alan Johnson.
It does seem like the deputy leadership campaign has been marked more by donation scandals after it's completion than by the result itself, since now half of the candidates have been accused of scandal or corruption - especially since Harriet Harman will be interviewed by police over her illegal proxy donation.

It does seem however, that the Guardian has forgotten all about Harman's donation problems, since they start their article on Alan Johnson's problems today with:
And then go on only to mention Hain as the other person with donation issues.

Maybe the best thing for the rest of the deputy leader candidates would be for them to frantically double-check all of their donations, just in case they have amde a mistake as badly as the other three we have seen so far...

Sources: The Times, BBC, The Telegraph, The Guardian

Harriet Harman has been elected the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, just pipping Alan Johnson to the post, and has been appointed party chairman [presumably she'd prefer "chairwoman" - or maybe even the non gender-specific term "chairperson"] by Gordon Brown. Presumably he had decisions on posts for all of the contenders, had they been the one to win. However, appointing the deputy leader party chairman is a good idea, as it again marks a difference between Blair's premiership and his own, when Prescott, as deputy leader, was Deputy Prime Minister as well.

Presumably Harman's new job will be to try and prevent Labour's decimation at the next general election and to prevent the hemorrhaging of Labour Party members. Will she do this? I doubt it, personally. A person who fought the election on the basic principle that she should be elected because she was a woman [and all the others, bar Blairite Hazel, weren't], is unlikely to be able to vote for the dour Scot.

That Harriet Harman won is quite a surprise to me, as I hadn't really considered her that serious a candidate. What was also a mild surprise, and quite a damning indictment of Blair's decade as PM, was the Hazel Blears was the first to be eliminated. It shows that the Labour Party has no attachment to Blairism, and little more attachment even to Tony Blair himself, anymore. Why anyone voted for Harriet Harman, I have no idea. I thought that Hazel Blears was a far mor interesting, and better, candidate!

Source: BBC, The Times, The Telegraph

The contest for the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party is "a cross between Big Brother and the Muppet Show" says David Cameron, to which Tony Blair's reply was basically 'I agree' as instead of refuting the statement he said "with the greatest respect to all my colleagues who are standing for the deputy leader: the leadership is the important thing." The leadership for which there was absolutely no vote at all, by anyone - not even an affirming vote. Nice to see that Blair has kept his love of democracy going all these years.

The most important question is, however - which Muppets are they [I'm going to do Blair, Brown, and Prescott as well]?

Tony Blair just has to be Kermit the Frog - the ringleader, who hogs all the limelight, despite seeming pretty incompetent. Especially since it's not easy being green - when you want to jet off all over the world, that is.

Gordon Brown is Sam the Eagle. because he's dull, boring, and usually wrong.

John Prescott can be none other than Sweetums. Just look at the picture, and guess why.

Hilary Benn just looks like Beaker. He may be described as an "orator" but I can never hear all that much more than Beaker's meeps...

Hazel Blears is none other than Miss Piggy. Who else could constantly follow Kermit (aka Tony Blair) around?

Alan Johnson is Clifford, because he's coooool, man. And he wears sunglasses.

Peter Hain just has to be Fozzie Bear. Because he is orange. Hain doesn't have any other distinguishing features, really.

Jon Cruddas is Gonzo the Great. "Do you really think this will work?" Gonzo's reply: "No! Isn't it great?!"

Harriet Harman doesn't appear to have a Muppet alter-ego - that I can discover right now, anyway...

Please let me know if you agree or disagree with [or have any other comments on] these classifications in the comments!

A "Deputy ding dong"? That is what is on Newsnight tonight, according to the main BBC Politics page, anyway.

Is it just me or is does that sound just, well, wrong? Particularly considering that two of the candidates appear to be campaigning primarily on the basis that they are 'ding dong'-less.

An unfortunate turn of phrase, I would have thought, particularly considering the look on Paxman's face in the photo they put next to it...

Of course it is actually referring to a debate amongst the candidates for the deputy leader of the Labour Party on Newsnight, but I read it and had a completely different, and quite horrible, image pop into my head. Which I now want to share with others - this sort of pain really is best shared.