The long Labour leadership contest could harm David Miliband

Labour’s NEC has agreed a long contest, with the leader being crowned at the party’s conference in September. It’s widely thought this harms the front-runner, David Miliband, and that’s exactly what some on the NEC want it to do.

There will be a £150,000 cap on leadership campaign spending (Gordon Brown managed to spend £220,000 when there was no competition). There will be hustings, TV debates, street parties (I made up the last bit).