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Britain's Labour opts for long leadership contest
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Britain's Labour opts for long leadership contest
Estelle Shirbon
LONDON
Tue May 18, 2010 9:55am EDT
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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Labour Party gave itself four months on Tuesday to elect a new leader who will face the task of rejuvenating a party out of power for the first time since 1997.
World
The position came up for grabs when Gordon Brown stepped down a week ago as prime minister and party leader. A Conservative-Liberal Democrat alliance is in power after this month's election, the first coalition since World War Two.
"(The leadership contest) is going to be a very important opportunity for us to reflect on the result of the general election, to renew the Labour Party and to re-engage with the British people," interim leader Harriet Harman told reporters.
The frontrunner is David Miliband, 44, who was foreign minister in Brown's government. A former adviser to Brown's predecessor Tony Blair, the cerebral Miliband is seen as the candidate of the party's "Blairite" or centrist wing.
The only other candidate to come forward so far is his brother Ed Miliband, 40, the former energy and climate change minister. His supporters say he is a unity candidate who would end years of tensions between the so-called "Blairite" and "Brownite" wings of the party.
The brothers are expected to face a challenge from Ed Balls, 42, the "Brownite" former schools minister who is popular with the more left-leaning elements of the Labour Party.
"The contest is David Miliband's to lose. He's the odds-on favorite with the bookmakers, he's seen as the intellectual heavyweight candidate within the party," said Jonathan Tonge, head of politics at Liverpool University.
"FOUR MONTHS FOR THINGS TO GO WRONG"
But Tonge said the decision to have such a long leadership contest could harm David Miliband's prospects.
"It's like a horse race. When you've got a leadership contest this long, it's rare for the horse that's out in front to stay out in front all that distance. It's four months for things to go wrong for David Miliband's campaign," he said.
Labour said candidates to be leader would declare themselves from May 24 to 27, hustings would take place in June and July and balloting would run from August 16 to September 22. The winner will be announced at the annual party conference on September 25.
Interim leader Harman dismissed suggestions that such a long process could allow divisions to fester, inflicting further damage on the party at a time when it should be adapting to the new political landscape of a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition.
"I don't think there will be instability. One of the ways in which members will judge the candidates is how responsibly they play their part in the leadership election," she said.
World
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