“We must let the public in,” said Harriet Harman this morning as she announced plans to allow the hoi polloi a vote in the Labour leadership contest:

“We will allow people who are not party members or who are not affiliated supporters through a trade union or Labour linked organisation like the Fabian society to have a vote. Anyone – providing they are on the electoral register – can become a registered supporter, pay £3 and have a vote to decide our next leader.”

There are one or two examples from recent history which suggest this idea is about as good as Hattie’s pink bus.

Millwall FC recently allowed the general public – including opposition fans – to choose the colour of their away kit for next season. With somewhat predictable results:

While Liverpool’s player of the season competition was opened up to the public too, leading to mischievous Man United and Arsenal supporters voting en masse for Mario Balotelli, who, well, certainly wasn’t their player of the year.

All it would take is a generous Tory donor and a few thousand Tory activists and Tristram Hunt is the new Labour leader…