After months of speculations, agitations for some and jubilation for others, we are only a few hours away from knowing who will become the next Labour leader.

Will it be a Blairite or Corbyn?

If it’s the former then it will be business as usual for the Labour Party and their supporters. The leader will be less left-wing than Miliband, most of the Parliamentary Labour Party will back him or her and the other three candidates will most likely each have a position in his/her Shadow Cabinet. He or she will work hard to occupy the centre ground and the opposition will agree with some of the government’s policies and disagree with others.

However, if Jeremy Corbyn is elected, the Labour Party and the country are in for a very rough ride. He is as far left as they come. So as a matter of principle he will oppose almost everything the government proposes, and call for most services to become public and tax anything under the sun. In other words, he will promise the moon and expect taxpayers to foot the bill. I expect he will struggle to put together a Cabinet, since many already indicated they won’t serve under him. But he will nonetheless continue to spread the Corbyn gospel of tax and spend.

All of that could be fun to watch, if as a nation we didn’t have a deficit to reduce, debts to repay, new homes to build and an influx of refugees to settle. Not to mention the global migration crisis our world is facing today. Someone like Corbyn, who takes being in opposition literally, can make things extremely difficult to run and manage.

Andy Burnham, who for most of this leadership race was the front runner, is a seasoned frontbench operator. But Corbynmania exposed him as the status quo candidate plus I’m sure his insane flip-flopping on issues didn’t help. Towards the end he appeared robotic and predictable with nothing new to offer. Some still feel he talks a great deal of sense and is the best person to lead Labour to victory in 2020. But many see him as a continuation of the past and the candidate who offers nothing new.

Yvette Copper on the other hand was slow off the blocks, yet she managed to push ahead steadily. Throughout this contest she showed stamina and resilience plus it seems in recent days she found her passion. But for some being Mrs Balls somehow works against her. Having said that, just as this contest is Corbyn’s to lose it is now Copper’s to win. A few weeks ago, when Corbynmania was at its peak, I asked The Sun Political Editor who he predicted will win and his answer was Yvette Copper will win it on the second ballot. If that happens, she will make history for her Party.

As for Liz Kendall, I am sorry, but her campaign never got off the starting blocks. It seems she was finished before she even started. However, as the newest MP of the four candidates she is in a good position for next time. In my opinion, the three things she should take from this race is to pace herself like Cooper, stay visible throughout like Burnham, but most of all be real and authentic like Corbyn and do it all with genuine passion.

Like Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn speaks human and does it from the heart. He is an ordinary approachable decent guy who answers all the questions asked, and does it without any airs and graces. Will he win? If he wins can he lead the party? Can he win a General Election? I don’t know. He probably can. I don’t think so. But what I do know for sure last general election, everybody predicted and expected one thing and the outcome was another thing altogether. Either way it’s not long to go now.

These days, all we hear, reed and watch is Jeremy Corbyn this and Jeremy Corbyn that. Form total obscurity in a few short months he is now the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of politics, understandably some love him while others loath him. For me his politics is very peculiar but then he won’t lead me or my party and if in September he wins the Labour Party leadership contest I will do everything in my power to see he never leads this great country.

Having said that, I, a Tory, cannot understand what Labour is doing to itself! They seem to be tearing chunks off each other because Corbyn (who a few months ago almost did not get enough Labour MPs to nominate him to stand for this contest) is now ahead in every poll.

But isn’t this democracy?

Not according to Andy Burnham and Liz Kendell.

Corbyn, a straight talker who doesn’t hold back, unlike most modern politicians, has a knack for answering every question put to him and engages easily with reports and people from all walks of life. He is a calm mature looking and behaving decent man, who holds very, very strong socialist beliefs. It seems this and his willingness to engage has struck a chord with many, plus his politics are a hit with the left. Same as Sarah Palin and Nigel Farage before him were on the right, as a result of that he is ahead and the Blairites don’t like it one bit.

As an outsider, I see why Blair, Mandelson, Brown, Campbell and Labourites of their ilk don’t like him. His leadership will take the party further left back to its pre-New Labour days. However, some would say a Corbyn leadership will bring Labour back home, to its rightful place.

My late father used to say “anger is man’s biggest enemy, because it clouds judgment.” And that is what I see happening with Labour. The New Labour types are angry and panicking that their beloved project is in danger of being axed. Sadly, in their fright and fury they lost sight of the bigger picture.

Jeremy Corbyn, like Farage and Palin, given time sooner rather than later will go away, because when it comes down to it what matters to most people is bread and butter issues not what sounds and feels good.

Take his latest promise. He said if elected leader he will apologise for the Iraq War. Now, who in their right mind will say that? When there is an ongoing independent enquiry into the matter. Secondly, does he really think Blair, Brown and Cameron did not consider offering an apology and ramifications of that offer? Or does he think he is the only person who sees the wrong in that war?

Furthermore, did he even consider what an apology by a leader and potential a PM might means? Apologising for the Iraq War is a slap on the face to our Armed Forces and disrespects all the men and women who fought in it. An apology might vindicate those who marched against the war, but it will dishonour the memory of those who gave their lives, their limps, their sanity and mental well-being to that war. An apology might feel good to some, but its implication and legacy are dire to those who were sent to fight it.

After two consecutive defeats, the last thing the Labour Party needs is to talk to itself, especially when it should be showing the public what a Labour government can offer them. And, explain how it can be different. It needs to show how a Labour administration can create better jobs, leave more money in peoples’ pockets, give children a better education and makes us all happier and healthier.

It seems the biggest fear the Blairites now have is Corbyn winning the leadership. As a result they are doing everything to stop him, accusing outsider infiltration, discrediting him and putting doubt in their own electoral system, all in hopes to put a stop to this election. While failing to realise that what they are doing is discrediting the whole Labour Party and making all of us ask: How can Labour run Britain if it can’t manage a simple leadership election?

First let me start by congratulating both for hosting the best Labour Party leadership debate. After weeks of bland predictable hustings, finally last night LBC and Iain Dale put on a very engaging debate. It was clever to allow listeners call in and directly ask their questions. Despite some candidates slight resistance to opening up, listeners’ questions livened the discussion because they were the question the public liked to ask.

Either way after the many hustings in as many weeks since this leadership contest began; it is now clear why Jeremy Corbyn is ahead by 17%. It is even clearer why Tony Blair and his followers are very concerned. And they should be because at this rate Corbyn who is not the darling of the Blairites is on his way to becoming the next leader of the Labour Party. It is also very clear why they don’t want him to lead their party. The man makes Ed Miliband looks like a right-winger. But don’t get me wrong, he is not popular because of his politics. Of course to some it’s his politics, but most people like him for the same reasons many don’t care about Nigel Farage’s or Nicola Sturgeon’s politics yet admire them. Besides being new and different, like the other two, Corbyn comes across as frank, unrehearsed and able to speak human. Which unfortunately for Labour none of the other three have a clue how to do.

God knows Iain Dale tried, more than once, to bring the other three candidates out of their shells, but did not succeed. Even when he nudged them, and he did it more than once, they just could not be themselves. Or did they? Could it be that after years of not being yourself ‘not being yourself’ becomes who you are?

Makes you think, doesn’t it?

After 90 minutes of a very engaging debate – questions came from the presenter, the listeners and even the contestants had the chance to question each other. I came away thinking; Yvette Cooper will never give a straight answer because she is always on the fence and don’t how to take a side. Andy Burnham is everything to everyone – but I have a great deal of respect for him for wanting to unite his party and not refusing to serve in a Corbyn administration – but still he’s everything to everyone. As for Liz ‘I am in it to win it’ Kendell, I feel she is just too green and hugely inexperienced to lead anything let alone Her Majesty’s Opposition. But this contest will help put her in the forefront of peoples’ mind and if she doesn’t make a big mistake, it will be good practice for future contests

In my opinion Iain telling Jeremy Corbyn Chukka Umunna said he won’t serve in a Corbyn Shadow Cabinet though cheeky it was a little mean. But it showed Corbyn’s maturity and mettle – age alone makes this man very seasoned and his attitude and calmness gives him a certain gravities the other candidates don’t yet possess.

I know many (mostly the media) say Corbyn is the Conservatives’ preferred candidate because he will put Labour out of office for a generation. First we don’t for sure know that. After all it’s the same media and polls that a few months ago, said the Conservatives will not win outright, so I’ll take what they say with a pinch of salt. But what we know for sure is a Corbyn win will un- blur the lines between the two parties. A Jeremy Corbyn leadership will be as red as Moscow’s Red Square and as left- wing as China before the Berlin Wall came down.

Secondly, why did Labour open their leadership election to the public? How is that fair or democratic to their membership? Didn’t they think some people might register just to tip the election one way or the other? Who knows, maybe they subconsciously wanted to sabotage their own chances?