Yes, very nice, thank you. I managed to stay upright on a wind surf board for about 100 seconds.
I did post a week ago about Ed Miliband’s holiday indecision over a replacement for Tom Watson as election co-ordinator. One other reason for thinking that Miliband leaned towards Douglas Alexander rather than Michael Dugher was that Watson himself urged Alexander’s appointment (a “whatever did he mean by that?” moment). Since then the well informed Patrick Wintour has added the names of Rachel Reeves and Owen Smith to the list. Still, decision comes there none.
All micro, but nevertheless highly significant.
Rather more visible over the past two weeks has been the grumbling from unexpected quarters in the Labour Party about Miliband’s leadership, some of which is helpfully summarised by Guido this morning.
One description that is not quite right is that of Ian Austin, who first called for Peter Mandelson’s return, as a “Brownite boot boy”. Guido ought to consult this fascinating and under-used document, the breakdown of voting by Labour MPs and MEPs in the 2010 leadership election. In it he will be reminded that Austin voted for David Miliband ahead of his brother (after Ed Balls, his first choice).
George Mudie, the MP for Leeds East and former deputy chief whip, was a more unexpected critic of Miliband the Younger, having voted for him as his second preference after Ed Balls.
But the striking interview recently was that with Andy Burnham, in which he seemed to be pitching headlong in the direction of Swedeny idealism just as the rest of the party realised that repudiating New Labour had led it up a three-year dead end. Not satisfied with telling me that Labour had a “simplistic notion of choice, almost applying the supermarket test”, in the NHS, he now says he doesn’t like academies, the single innovation that has done most to advance the life chances of the people Labour was founded to represent.
More catching up later.
Eagle Eye 