Chuka chucks in the towel.

Good opposition is almost as important as good government and one reason that Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair got away with so much was the lack of effective opposition. So it’s vital that Labour appoints a credible new leader. And soon. But so far, that quest isn’t going terribly well. Chuka Umanna, one of the frontrunners, has just withdrawn from the contest. This may be because of allegations that he changed his own Wikipedia entry to describe himself as the “British Barack Obama”. He claims it was nothing to do with him, but the fact that it was traced to a computer at the law firm where he worked would suggest otherwise. So as Labour leader, Chuka would have been an instant laughing stock. And given the puerile humour in the House of Commons, every time he stood up to speak, Tory backbenchers may well have sung this.