Is the Labour leadership race getting dirtier?

How odd. After a weekend in which Alan Johnson has been priased across the media for being such a nice bloke all of a sudden he's being hounded for letting his political advisors sping some school results. This happens the day after policy wonk John Hutton starts to be touted as the Blairite candidate for the leadership.

Now, call me a cynic if you like, but something smells funny there. I'm not doubting that Alan Johnson, and his office, spun school results to "bury bad news" as it were. That sort of thing is par for the course from this Government as a whole.

However, if you were someone desperate to become leader of the Labour Party (and thereby Prime Minister) who would you rather go against in an "open contest"? An affable ex-postman or a wooden policy wonk? Personally I'd rather have the policy wonk, but then I want Gordon Brown to win.