Ed Balls, another leadership contender who was not an MP in 2003, has in the past said he would have voted for the war. But he tells tomorrow's Telegraph: "It was a mistake. On the information we had, we shouldn't have prosecuted the war ... It was an error for which we as a country paid a heavy price, and for which many people paid with their lives." Saddam Hussein was a horrible man, and I am pleased he is no longer running Iraq. But the war was wrong."

The more I see and hear of this loathsome creature the more I feel the need to witness him suffering great pain. Fortunately a lot of other people will be experiencing similar sentiments, and his chances of becoming a leader instead of a toady are remote.

Ed Miliband too did not approve of the war. He thought at the time that it was wrong, but never managed to put his thoughts into words for public consumption. Then he became an MP in the party guilty of prosecuting the illegal war, and later joined the cabinet of war supporters. He too wants to be leader of his disgraced party.