Earlier today, Ed Miliband and Alan Johnson announced the latter’s resignation as Shadow Chancellor. Ed Balls has been moved from his Home Office position to replace him. The commentariat seem divided in their opinion with Labour’s friends welcoming an expert who’ll give Osbourne, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats an exceedingly hard time, and their enemies who are trying to re-start the feuds that emanated throughout the lifetime  of the last Labour government.

I am excited that Labour’s finest economist is on the front bench and in a position to nail the tory lies

  1. the current crisis is a crisis of debt and not of unemployment
  2. the last crisis was a crisis of public finance, not banking solvency
  3. the Tory cuts are designed balance the books not to shrink the state
  4. we are all in this together

Those who hope that Balls will restart past feuds are wrong, he will not destroy the current state of unity of the Labour Party; and while he may have ambitions to run for Leader again, the big and obvious difference is that he has just lost a Leadership election. Things would need to change a lot for him to win one and he should know it.

Also the Labour Party, finally having been asked last summer, and having had a better general election than the leadership, has a renewed confidence to hold the leadership to account.

I am going to enjoy watching Balls take Osbourne apart. I hope he wipes that smug smile off his face. Watch the video below if you need to be reminded.

Labour’s new front bench
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