If David Miliband does not become Prime Minister now, he never will, and will face a decade in opposition.

It seems like John McDonnell is gearing up as the stalking horse.

A rather unconventional approach to David Miliband’s Guardian commentary would be to discuss the argument which he actually makes. I have a longish commentary on Open Democracy which tries to assess what sort of 'change' Miliband is advocating that Labour needs to make, whether his 'progressive fusion' argument for bringing together social democracy and liberalism means, and why I think its a mistake to label Miliband as a 'Blairite'.

I personally wasn't sure what to make of David Miliband's Guardian article and then his press conference yesterday afternoon. Part of me wonders whether the media make too much of all this - especially given that the summer often turns up plenty of slow news days. They've got a few more headlines out of this one - with two Labour MPs calling for Miliband to be sacked.

Let's be done with all this media speculation. It's so uplifting when a Cabinet Minister refers to the Labour Party rule book as he did in his Guardian article citing a section from Chapter 1, Clause IV (FOUR) printed on the Party card.

However painful it might be to accept, one thing is clear; Labour is currently so unpopular that no single course of action can ensure it's success at the next election. One thing can, however, guarantee it's defeat and that is leaving Gordon Brown at the helm.

Whilst I don't believe we should change leaders again before the next general election, I must admit it is looking more likely that we will do so.

Rumours are swirling over a David Miliband - Alan Johnson dream ticket standing jointly for leader and deputy leader when the time comes.

David Milliband writes in The Guardian, mainly about how Labour can take on the "status quo" politics of David Cameron.

A Labourhome member writes

New Labour is dead in the water; its electoral credibility has been shattered and it's time we took a long hard look in the mirror, remember what we believe in, what we joined this great party for and look to the future. Gordon is the past, and he needs to go sooner rather than later if we are to remain a force in British politics. Here's my vision for the future, not for now, not necessarily for 2010 but for the long term health of the party.

In today's News of the World Foreign Secretary David Miliband gave a tough and honest assessment of the Labour Party's standing in the polls, and posed the question of how we best respond.

I fully agree with his comments below:

The independent MP and former Labour cabinet minister, Clare Short, has accused the Prime Minister of tokenism for sending Baroness Amos to the EU/Africa summit this weekend in his place. Today Short claimed that Amos, who will be attending as the UK’s representative, is being sent because she is black.  For more info, click here.

This week David Miliband gave a landmark speech in Bruges on Britain's future within Europe.

Foreign office U-Turn?

The Independent Scientific Group (ISG)has issued its final report into badgers and TB in cattle and found that 'badger culling is unlikely to contribute positively, or cost effectively, to the control of cattle TB in Britain' (ISG 2007 Final Report, p.23). This report offered then Secretary of State David Miliband an ideal opportunity to finally rule out badger culling as a policy option so that real efforts can be put into combatting what is a serious problem for farmers in parts of the country and an expensiveone for government.

I think it's pretty clear that David Miliband would prefer not to stand for the leadership in this election.  If that is the case, Alan Johnson has helped no end, saying that it is not his time.

The John4Leader website has increased its 'Endorsements' section, which appears set to be added to pretty regularly over the next couple of weeks.

Profile, Praise and Plaudits for Miliband & Bad News for Brown in the Sunday Papers

Shamelessly using LabourHome to draw attention to my new blog for a Miliband candidacy.
http://thereisanalternative.wordpress.com/

...putting John McDonnell to one side for now, whom would people on this site prefer, even if it means choosing the lesser of two evils.

John Reid supposedly will stand in a contest against Brown if Miliband refuses. I, for one, think Reid should be appluaded for such a move.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/08/nlab08.xml