It hasn't been a great week for Miliband Minor. In fact it hasn't been a great few months. When he fought the General Election and the Labour leadership contest, Ed came over as a more user friendly alternative to his rather geekish brother. He spoke human, looked cheerful and connected well with people. Once elected his demeanour quickly changed to very serious and largely unsmiling. Presumably some image consultant told him he needed gravitas and this was the way to achieve it. As result he often looks downright miserable and no longer someone who might be fun to spend an evening in the pub, -or anywhere else, -with. He is now a full time member of the joyless socialist front bench ensemble which includes Harriet Harman and Yvette Cooper. Can you imagine what a merry evening you would have with those three together,- and that's before you even begin to consider adding Ed Balls and other Labour luminaries?
This week though one can understand why those panda eyes look darker and gloomier than ever. The over zealous activities of Alan Johnson's bodyguard in standing in for his charge,- it seems he took his responsibilities too seriously and they became too all embracing,- led to the departure from the cabinet of the one person who most outsiders felt was a real people.Ed M put him in as Shadow Chancellor specifically to keep Ed B out. Johnson, well suited to other roles such as Shadow Home Secretary , was way out of his depth in this one and must have found it highly stressful and unpleasant long before personal problems came into view. For him, the ability to resign from a no-fit role must be the very welcome silver lining to an otherwise very dark cloud over his private life. Hopefully he will be back, reshuffled into something more aligned with his talents before long.
Ed M now faces a prospect he really wanted to avoid. The Blair/Brown years saw the potential of New Labour rendered disastrously ineffective thanks to the ongoing conflicts between 10 and 11 Downing Street. Part of the problem was the obvious ambition of number 11. After a few months of a Chancellor with no ambition to ultimately challenge him, Ed M now has one with loads of it and a very noisy and high profile one at that.In fact he's got not just one , but thanks to Yvette Cooper being Mrs Balls, a potential powerful alliance of two to worry about. For a while all may be well, but at the back of The Prime Minister's mind will be a nasty sense of unease and brooding uncertainty and even insecurity. It won't help that former appearance of cheery easygoing confidence to return soon .That fact too will help the ambitions of the Balls family.Chilly feeling down the back of the spine this grey Sunday afternoon Ed?
