There is no doubt in my mind who I’m going to vote for for the next Labour leader, with a view to him becoming Prime Minister of the UK eventually. I have thought about the options extremely carefully after several weeks and I am now very happy with my decision, although it hasn’t be easy.

This may surprise many of you but I will be voting for Andy Burnham no. 1 and Ed Balls no.2

In reaching my discussion, I have completely ignored the following dimensions:

black vs white
male vs female
nu Labour vs Labour
Oxbridge vs not
Blairite vs Brownite

I found these dichotomies extremely unhelpful.

I have also stopped worrying about what the unions think or what Middle England think. I frankly don’t care who they think is the best person to win the election. I don’t want a person to win the election with the wrong policies with the excuse he can ‘work on them’ later.

I also decided to ditch the “What if?” scenarios, such as D Miliband becomes Prime Minister and he wishes to have Jon Cruddas. Such scenarios are unpredictable : take the case of Jon Cruddas. i would actually be extremely delighted if he became Chairman of my party.

The next five years will not so much be concerned with the effects of the cuts, in my opinion, as the destruction of the infrastructure, especially schools and health. However, Labour must acknowledge the attacks on the weakest in society, including the poorest and disabled, and the potential U-turns on education. I take it as given that the anti-Keynesian approach is wrong, and that tax increases for a country that is deleveraging is totally incorrect. I think we need a leader with a proven record in domestic policy issues such as health or education, but who does have a vision for aspirational socialism.

I particularly identify with Andy Burnham because of his recognition of the ageing population and the future problem of dementia, as well as his in depth understanding of the NHS. This is going to be absolutely crucial in the next five years as the Conservative Party denationalise it with introduction of a sufficient number of private elements to make it viable as a commercial competitive identity, not abuse any dominant position in competition law, and make it ideally fit for privatisation. Furthermore, I fully support Andy Burnham in his demand that online media should be regulated. As it happens I believe in free speech and freedom of expression, but I strongly disagree with defamation and incitement to hatred. I feel that the BBC has not demonstrated a sufficient level of public service in this regard, which calls the renewal of its Charter into genuine question. Finally, I support Andy Burnham in his quest to understand the relationship between mental illness and criminal justice system. I happen to know a lot about these two disciplines, and I have found Andy’s words on these topics articulate and sophisticated.

Ed Balls MP impresses me a lot too, as he has put up a passionate argument against Michael Gove’s incompetent handling of school closures, and the untried efficacy of free schools imported from Sweden. David Miliband MP has been deeply unimpressive in hustings I have attended or friends have attended, giving a pale, unimpressive and uninspiring account of issues. I don’t think Labour is as popular as the Tories anyway on foreign policy, and I feel Labour should not play to its weaknesses at this particular time, when a lot of foreign policy issues are coming home to roost, such as Meghari/Blair/BP, alleged torture, the Iraq War, which sadly did occur under David Miliband’s watch. Ed Miliband, while perfectly innocuous, does not have enough depth of understanding in health or education (or a major office of state) to go straight in there at the deep end.

Good luck to all of them however!