Breaking news. Ed Miliband has named Alan Johnson as his Shadow Chancellor and Ed Balls as his Shadow Home Secretary.
As Steve Richards pointed out on last night's Newsnight programme, (http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/v8hh3/?t=18m30s) who he named as Shadow Chancellor was crucial to him setting a firm tone as leader, crucial to him not being seen to react exaggerated media headlines on psychodrama (Ed Balls is married to Yvette Cooper and both were considered the only serious candidates for the job), and crucial because the government are seeking to enact a radical cuts agenda thereby dismantling the New Labour legacy and causing heartache to many people in the public sector who will lose their jobs.
To then not name either Yvette Cooper (the obvious choice), or Ed Balls (the only credible alternative to Cooper) to shadow Chancellor George Osbourne already smacks of someone trying to avoid tomorrow's negative headlines rather than someone who sees that he is going to need his best and most capable people on board for the 4 and half year long haul. Definitely an inauspicious start.
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