Today’s Telegraph reports that David Miliband has lined up Alan Milburn to be his Chancellor, should he manage to oust Gordon Brown from office. A good move by Team Miliband? Well, Milburn is certainly a capable political performer, and his presence will help solidify Blairite support. But two potential problems spring to mind.
The first is that, whilst Milburn is popular with the Blairites, he is anathema to the Brownites and to the left of the party (remember the unions’ response when he was appointed as Labour’s general election co-ordinator for 2005?). In a struggle that is rapidly reducing into a Blairite vs Brownite feud, the received wisdom is that Miliband needs to look for support beyond his usual ideological base. That means making ties with the Labour left, not breaking them.
The second problem is that Milburn has been away from the political frontline for some time now.
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