There are several eyecatching appointments in Ed Miliband’s shadow cabinet. Ed Balls at Shadow Home puts Labour’s most vicious scrapper up
against a wobbly government department. Yvette Cooper as Shadow Foreign Secretary is a suitable reward for her showing in the elections, but it is a counterintuitive use of her background in
economics. MiliE loyalists Sadiq Khan and John Denham have duly received plum jobs in Justice and Business, respectively. But perhaps the most surprising appointment is also the most important:
Alan Johnson as Shadow Chancellor.
On a purely presentational level, you can see what Ed Miliband is thinking. Like Alistair Darling, Alan Johnson has achieved that rarest thing: he is a veteran of the New Labour years, but has remained largely unblemished by the association. He is affable, popular, competent and – what will be be important to many Labour supporters – has a background that contrasts starkly with that of George Osborne.
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