Unite - and then there were 6

The contest for deputy leader of the Labour Party is now underway and, unlike Gordon Brown's lonely triumph, it's pretty crowded.

Unite [both Amicus and T&G sections] have agreed to support Jon Cruddas.

Each political levy paying member now has to decide

1. Whether they can be bothered to vote, or salve their conscience by writing off this election as a waste of time and money.
Before adopting this position, close your eyes, imagine yourself down the pub with your mates and rehearse a sentence beginning "Well I don't normally agree with John Spellar but---"


2. Whether or not to accept the recommendation of the union's elected leadership.
Being a thrawn oppositionist by temperament, and a retired political geek with too much time on my hands by dint of the passing years, I have spent the last few days ploughing through the Labour party site together with TULO, the candidates blogs, and little trodden paths such as Compass and Unions 21.
My conclusion? Unite was right all along.
The 2007 Parliamentary Labour Party was never going to yield a choice between intellectual giants of impeccable socialist probity. Instead we are faced with a choice between 6 flawed human beings, each driven by a varied mixture of idealism and ambition. I can find much to disagree with in all of their platforms, but Jon Cruddas seems the least constrained by the last ten years,and the most likely to provide the necessary grit in the oyster.


3. [and here's where things get complicated]
Should you take the time to rank all 6 candidates in order to scupper the worst?

The Labour Party explain the process thus
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How will votes be cast in the election?

In accordance with the Labour Party Rulebook, a third of the votes will go to each of the following sections:

MPs and MEPs;
Individual party members;
affiliated organisations (4B.2c(ii)).

The vote, provided there are more than two candidates, will be a transferable eliminating ballot.
Voters will mark the candidates 1,2, 3 etc.
Each round will be published as 100%, with votes not cast or transferred being eliminated from the calculations.
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Whether or not the unions have given any thought to the intricacies of a preference voting system I do not know, but I reckon, if they have, the probable judgement was to keep the message uncluttered and plug one name only.
No such inhibitions apply to the, much smaller, parliamentary electorate, and if this article in the Independent is to be believed, the spirit of Machiavelli continues to stalk the Palace of Westminster.