'Let's call the whole thing off'

John Spellar has described the Deputy Leadership contest as a 'waste of time and money', saying, "Why do we want to spend the best part of £2million on a non job which has no real role. Let's call the whole thing off."

It's not going to happen, but I think he is right. It might be different if there was a big difference between the candidates and there would be a big difference depending on who gets elected, but all the candidates appear to agree with each other about almost everything, which means that it will be nine months or more of navel-gazing diverting ministers, MPs and activists into internal campaigning rather than getting on with governing and taking on the real enemy.

I know that internal elections and talking exclusively to people who are already Labour Party members is much more fun than having to talk to people who aren't already Labour and persuade them, or taking difficult decisions, but it does seem a bit self-indulgent.