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I bumped into Chris McLaughlin, the editor of , last night, who pointed out that this autumn's Labour Shadow Cabinet elections may well be contested without slates - groups of candidates banding together. At least no slates seem to have emerged so far.

This must be a first in post-war Labour politics, and possibly ever. There were certainly well-organised slates of candidates on every other occasion in which Labour went into Opposition - 1951-64; 1970-74 and 1979-1987 - with Bevanites, Gaitskellites, Tribunites, the Manifesto Group, the Campaign Group and so on, all clubbing together to get their people elected.

The lack of slates in 2010 may reflect the lack of any great ideological division in Labour's ranks these days.

Or it may reflect the fact that only 25 per cent of Labour MPs have ever been involved in a Shadow Cabinet election before (so Chris tells me - I've not checked it).

Slates and political parties are a natural consequence of most democratic elections, since it's a lot easier and effective for candidates to organise together than to campaign as individuals.

So it's hard to believe that slates won't re-emerge in Labour's annual Shadow Cabinet poll eventually, either this year or in future.