Thursday, December 19, 2013
Labour in crisis?
With Labour failing to make any impact against the Coalition Government's economic policy the Sun reports that Ed Miliband is losing patience with his shadow chancellor.
The paper quotes senior Labour sources as saying that Ed Miliband is ready to axe his right-hand man next autumn unless he starts winning the economic argument with George Osborne:
Relations between the two men have grown steadily worse in recent months as the recovery has gathered pace.
Mr Balls also came under fire for his disastrous response to the Chancellor's mini-Budget earlier this month.
A senior Labour insider told The Sun that Mr Miliband is "ruthless" enough to get rid of Mr Balls if it gives him the best chance of winning in 2015.
The source said: "If we're still in difficulty on the economy by the time of the party conference in September, then he will do it.
"You should not underestimate how ruthless Ed is.
"He will not let anything stand between us and the election, and that includes Ed Balls."
Possible successors include shadow cabinet members Chuka Umunna, Rachel Reeves and Douglas Alexander.
This is all really interesting of course. The only question I have is whether Labour have planted story this themselves to make Ed Miliband look tough and decisive, or just to make it plain that he recognises that there will is a problem and is dealing with it.
I guess we will just have to wait for September to find out.
The paper quotes senior Labour sources as saying that Ed Miliband is ready to axe his right-hand man next autumn unless he starts winning the economic argument with George Osborne:
Relations between the two men have grown steadily worse in recent months as the recovery has gathered pace.
Mr Balls also came under fire for his disastrous response to the Chancellor's mini-Budget earlier this month.
A senior Labour insider told The Sun that Mr Miliband is "ruthless" enough to get rid of Mr Balls if it gives him the best chance of winning in 2015.
The source said: "If we're still in difficulty on the economy by the time of the party conference in September, then he will do it.
"You should not underestimate how ruthless Ed is.
"He will not let anything stand between us and the election, and that includes Ed Balls."
Possible successors include shadow cabinet members Chuka Umunna, Rachel Reeves and Douglas Alexander.
This is all really interesting of course. The only question I have is whether Labour have planted story this themselves to make Ed Miliband look tough and decisive, or just to make it plain that he recognises that there will is a problem and is dealing with it.
I guess we will just have to wait for September to find out.
