Diane Abbott: Even Barack Obama wouldn't meet Labour's narrow leadership rules

DIANE ABBOTT said today that the Labour leadership race was being drawn from "the narrowest gene pool in history" as she attacked the party's rules for candidates.

The Left-winger, who has attracted the backing of just five fellow MPs, criticised the requirement to have 33 nominations.

She also claimed that Barack Obama would never have been allowed to run for President if the US Democrats had had such restrictions.

Ms Abbott spoke out as a new poll of Liberal Democrats found that their favoured choice for Labour leader was Ed Miliband. Ms Abbott came second in the poll, by LibDemVoice.org, followed by David Miliband. Ed Balls was seen as the most divisive candidate .

Ms Abbott said that it was now clear that the leadership rules, requiring nominations from 12 and a half per cent of Labour MPs, had been drafted under Neil Kinnock to keep out the Left.

She said that Labour had been the first party to have a black Cabinet minister and an "out" gay Cabinet minister. "So why, in a pivotal moment, is Labour being asked to select a leader from the narrowest gene pool in its history?" she asked.

Ms Abbott criticised the Milibands and Mr Balls for their role as political advisers under New Labour and said "none has had a proper job". "Probably more salient is that you cannot put a cigarette paper between their beliefs. But most blindingly obvious is that there will not be a single woman on the ballot."

The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP said that the requirement that one in eight Labour MPs nominate a candidate was "just a ridiculously high threshold".

If Mr Obama, as a freshman senator, had been required to get one in eight Democratic Congressmen to nominate him, his run for the presidency "would have been over before it began," Ms Abbott said.

Senior Labour figures say the threshold is far from high and point out that if an MP cannot persuade eight of their colleagues to back them, then they might have even more difficulty in persuading the public of their merits.

Cambridge-educated Ms Abbott is struggling to get the backing of the Left because she sent her son to the £10,000-a-year City of London School after years of criticising private education.

With less than a week before the deadline for nominations closes next Wednesday, the only candidates so far are the Milibands and Mr Balls. David Miliband has the support of 62 fellow MPs, his brother Ed has 49 and Mr Balls has 33.

Andy Burnham has 20 nominations, although his camp is confident that he will cross the 33 threshold when MPs return to Parliament next week. Ms Abbott, with five, and John McDonnell, with six, have struggled to find new support.