I went to the Labour leadership hustings today. It wasn't a Party event in that it was open to non-members and it wasn't charging a £10 door fee. But all five candidates were there (Ed Balls, Diane Abbott, Andy Burnham and the brothers Miliband). For those of you who don't know, after a stint of being very active in the Party many years ago I
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I'm voting for her. I've always liked and respected Diane Abbot, although, our dear friend the organiser did tell me today he didn't like her because she's an elitist.
Completely unlike the Brothers Milliband then!!
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Balls - Dad is an academic zoologist, private boys secondary school, Oxford (PPE) and Harvard (Kennedy scholar).
Burnham - working class background but then Cambridge (English).
Miliband (E) - son of academic (Ralph Miliband), Oxford (PPE), LSE (MSc Economics).
Miliband (D) - son of academic (Ralph Miliband), Oxford PPE, M.I.T. (MSc Political Science).
Abbott - Cambridge (History).
In terms of her school choice for her son, she tackled this head on and with good reasoning. The national figure for white boys getting 5 A-E GCSEs was 42%, in Hackney the figure for black boys was 9%. I understand more why she did it and she also said that after 9 years of Labour investment in education if she were making that same choice now she'd make it differently.
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As for who else should be a contender - I am not sure, being out of touch with the Party but only Harman and McDonnell would count as having been educated at non-elite HE institutions.
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