Labour leadership: Mid-October result to follow drawn-out process

THE new Labour leader is likely to be announced in the middle of October following a drawn-out election process involving the entire party membership.

The party’s nationalexecutive meets this Saturday to lay down the ground rules for the procedure to pick Pat Rabbitte’s successor as leader.

Essentially it will decide what the dates will be for the close of nominations, for the return of ballots and for the counting of votes.