How magnanimous. Harriet Harman, the acting leader of the Labour Party, has granted Diane Abbott a mercy nomination. They don’t agree with each other politically, but, heck, they’re both women. That should obviously override any and all other considerations, right?

Despair, thy name is tokenism.

Ed Balls has joined in too, eager to prove his pro-diversity credentials. He’s already got his 33 nominations, so he’s asked MPs intending to nominate him to nominate Diane Abbott instead. I think this demonstrates not so much good sportsmanship on Ed Ball’s part but rather just what sort of threat he considers Diane to be. That’d be “absolutely no threat whatsoever.”

Perhaps I’m being a little cynical. Perhaps after yesterday’s piece about the uncomfortable morality of positive discrimination I’m being overly sensitive to this rather public determination to ‘get a black woman on the ballot’ to make Labour look like a more woman and ethnic minority friendly party when the truth is that Labour’s parliamentary party have done little more than pat Diane on the head for standing and then utterly disregard her presence in the contest.

There is, after all, another left wing back-bench rebel trying to get on the ballot. This candidate has actually got more nominations, so in terms of ensuring there’s a broad spectrum of political opinion in the contest, this candidate might actually be the sensible one to pick. But this candidate is a white male. An old one, at that. No-one’s asking other MPs to give John McDonnell a nomination. He’s left to stand – and fall – on his own two feet, and if you want people to be truly equal that’s how things should be for Diane Abbott too.

I don’t think I’m ever going to understand this sort of logic, but then I’m not the kind of person Labour is trying to appeal to with this sort of highly public display of some-of-my-best-friends-are-black-ism.

So, my message to Labour MPs is this: Don’t you dare. Don’t nominate her just because she’s a woman. Don’t. You won’t be helping. Not really.

I don’t envy you. You’ve set yourselves up as the party that reflects the diversity of the nation, but when it really counts, when it really really matters you’ve looked to Oxbridge educated White Males to lead you, and that’s just plain embarrassing isn’t it? Would it really be so unthinkable to simply assert that Diane hasn’t been nominated because, well, she’s a bit crap?

Would that be so, so, so unthinkable?