There are a large number of Labour councillors outside of London who are very worried indeed. Many of those councillors are those who are up for re-election next May. They had assumed that by then Blair would have gone, the party would have been re-energised under whoever the new leader was, and they would be laughing all the way to the polling stations. Now they are not so sure. It looks like he may not go, and for them it threatens to become the nightmare scenario. Whereas it seems fairly obvious that despite New Labour people still don't trust the tories in Government and are very uneasy about the Dave factor... a protest vote in the local government elections, or staying away altogether may become increasingly attractive.
Well, councillors, you know what to do. We all have a responsibilty to get this leadership issue resolved, and your interests are more concentrated than many.
John McDonnell on his leadership challenge.
