The contest has already begun and speaking on BBC Breakfast, Times Radio’s Lucy Fisher said she has been struck by how “vicious” the leadership contest has already become. “It’s all getting very bad very quickly,” he said, adding that the candidates are starting to look at each other’s ministerial records and attack them. “There is even the suggestion that some campaign groups are handing over digital files of vile complaints about their opponents to Labor in an attempt to discredit them,” he said. This is all due to the speeding up of the competition, with George Parker, political editor of the Financial Times, telling the same program that the timetable is very compressed. He expects a “very brutal campaign” with candidates already trying to find weaknesses in their opponents. “I thought one of the most important things that was said in this campaign was from Mark Spencer, who is a former leader of the government, who said there are a number of candidates who have skeletons in their cupboards,” he said. “I think some candidates will be looking over their shoulders.”
