Voting over – but will the race come down to MPs’ second preferences?

With voting now over, it looks like the Labour leadership race will be neck-and-neck - and could come down to Abbott/Balls/Burnham supporters’ 2nd preferences.

As polls close, the consensus in Westminster is the Labour leadership race is neck-and-neck between the two Milibands – a claim first made by Left Foot Forward in July. With the result in the balance, there’s every reason to think it will come down to the second preferences of MPs backing the threes outsiders: Diane Abbott, Ed Balls, and Andy Burnham.

Left Foot Forward has learned that shadow housing minister and Ed Balls supporter John Healey will give his second preference to Ed Miliband. Mr Healey spoke to us earlier this week and we will publish our full interview with him tomorrow.

There is still great uncertainty over where the second preferences of the 80 MPs who said they’re voting for Abbott, Balls or Burnham will end up. Left Foot Forward only has inteligence on nine of those 80. If you are in the CLP of one of the remaining 71 MPs (listed below), why not ask them how they used their second preference. Please let us know in the comments or by tweeting #2ndpref.

These are the MPs:


Diane Abbott (1st pref. Diane Abbott)
David Anderson (EB)
Ian Austin (EB)
Ed Balls (EB)
Kevin Barron (AB)
Joe Benton (AB)
Clive Betts (AB)
Hazel Blears (AB)
Tom Blenkinsop (EB)
Kevin Brennan (EB)
Lyn Brown (EB)
Andy Burnham (AB)
Ronnie Campbell (DA)
Tom Clarke (AB)
Vernon Coaker (EB)
Michael Connarty (AB)
Yvette Cooper (EB)
Jeremy Corbyn (DA)
David Crausby (EB)
Jim Cunningham (EB)
Nick Dakin (AB)
Ian Davidson (DA)
Jim Dobbin (EB)
Thomas Docherty (AB)
Frank Doran (AB)
Michael Dugher (EB)
Paul Farrelly (AB)
Robert Flello (AB)
Sheila Gilmore (DA)
Paul Goggins (AB)
Kate Green (EB)
Nia Griffith (EB)
Andrew Gwynne (EB)
Stephen Hepburn (EB)
Julie Hilling (AB)
Sharon Hodgson (EB)
Kelvin Hopkins (DA)
Lindsay Hoyle (AB)
Huw Irranca Davies (AB)
Siân C. James (DA)
Cathy Jamieson (AB)
Diana R. Johnson (EB)
Helen Jones (EB)
Kevan Jones (AB)
Eric Joyce (EB)
Barbara Keeley (EB)
Chris Leslie (EB)
Khalid Mahmood (EB)
Stephen McCabe (EB)
Kerry McCarthy (EB)
Andrew Miller (AB)
Austin Mitchell (AB)
John Robertson (EB)
Geoffrey Robinson (EB)
Steve Rotheram (AB)
Brian Simpson (AB)
Marsha Singh (EB)
Dennis Skinner (DA)
Andrew Smith (EB)
John Spellar (EB)
Gerry Sutcliffe (AB)
Jon Trickett (DA)
Karl Turner (AB)
Derek Twigg (AB)
Joan Walley (AB)
Tom Watson (EB)
Dave Watts (AB)
Malcolm Wicks (AB)
Mike Wood (DA)
David Wright (EB)
Iain Wright (EB)

16 Responses to “Voting over – but will the race come down to MPs’ second preferences?”

  1. Rosie

    RT @leftfootfwd: Voting over – but will the race come down to MPs’ second preferences? http://bit.ly/aIcmQ9 @DMiliband or @Ed_Miliband?

  2. Ell Aitch

    RT @leftfootfwd: Voting over – but will the race come down to MPs’ second preferences? http://bit.ly/aIcmQ9 @DMiliband or @Ed_Miliband?

  3. Martin Johnston

    gotta be Millband the younger for me RT @leftfootfwd: Voting over, will the race come down to MPs 2nd preferences? http://bit.ly/aIcmQ9

  4. The Old Politics

    Last tweet refers to @leftfootfwd's second preferences project – join in: http://bit.ly/aIcmQ9

  5. Isabelle

    Your list is rather out of date. Sheila Gilmore, Tom Clarke, Dennis Skinner, Nic Dakin, and Huw Iranca Davies gave their 1st pref to David Miliband so 2nd pref will probably not matter. Jon Trickett and Cathy Jamieson gave Ed Miliband their 1st pref. Tom Watson and Eric Joyce said on Twitter that they will give Ed Mili their 2nd pref. Tom Blenkinsop, Geoffrey Robinson, Thomas Doucherty, and Chris Leslie will five their 2nd prefs to David Mili. Lindsay Hoyle and Michael Connarty will give their 1st prefs to Ed Balls. Is this the information you gave to YouGove for their polls? If so, then YouGov needs to get a better partner. Many of these names were known weeks ago.

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