Burnham speaks out against a rainbow coalition

It’s not just David Blunkett, John Reid and Tom Harris speaking out against the idea of a Lab-Lib coalition. Andy Burnham has now broken cover on BBC World at One and said the election decision should be respected. At Cabinet yesterday, he spoke out against the idea of a rainbow coalition, as did Bob Ainsworth, Sadiq Khan and Jack Straw.

Ed Balls didn’t come across to the Lib Dem negotiating team as being very engaged with the idea of coalition. How will all this play in the Labour leadership contest?

Talking to Labour MPs today it’s hard to find one who supports the idea of a grand multi-coloured coalition. So Ed Balls won’t have done his candidacy (nobody declared yet of course) any harm with that word getting around. Andy Burnham looks like a man who is testing the ground and flexing up for a possible contest.

David Miliband kept arms length from the coalition idea but didn’t condemn it in public. Ed Miliband is assembling a team and seems certain to run for the leadership but is on the negotiating team. Again, the Lib Dems said they thought he was a bit cool on the deal and didn’t seem to get the idea of coalition the way the Lords Mandelson and Adonis did.

On the subject of the Milibands, their mother may be in the tricky position of having to vote for one son or the other. Fortunately, she has a second preference under Labour leadership rules, but that may be little consolation for the brother who gets the second vote.

Related: Game on for a Tory-Lib Dem coalition