David Miliband has to decide within the next 24 hours to carry on in front-line politics, if he has not decided already. His acclaimed speech to the Labour Party conference yesterday could be his last from the front bench.
One can understand why he might not wish to continue. He has been pipped to the leadership of the party by his own brother. Even if Labour regain office, he would never be prime minister.
Moreover, if he did carry on as a front bench spokesman, the media would constantly be looking to expose differences between him and Red Ed - and they do exist.
On the other hand, if he does stand down, Ed Balls is likely to be the Shadow Chancellor. Balls is a leading deficit denier. Or to put it more generously, he believes that a lot of the gap can be closed by clamping down on tax evasion and avoidance. If it was that easy, it would have been done years ago.
2 comments:
So, what do you think he will do? And if he does decide to leave, what will he do next? Yesterday he went on about being united - can he all of a sudden leave after saying that?
I think there would be all sorts of opportunities open to him - in the third sector, in international organisations, in business. Or he could return to the front bench in the future. As far as unity is concerned, he may feel that his presence could be exploited in a way that was divisive.
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