Jack Straw backs David Miliband

The Labour party’s very own Vicar of Bray has made his choice. Jack Straw is backing David Miliband for leader.

Straw is a politician who has always had a canny sense of which way the wind is blowing. Barbara Castle, who Straw worked for as a special adviser, once famously said that she hired him for his ‘guile and low cunning’. Straw’s move from the Blair camp to the Brown one was a sign that Blair was running out of road.

Say what you like about Straw—Tony Blair was once caught calling him a ‘tart’—but he has a record of picking winners in Labour contests.  His endorsement of David will be seen as a sign that the elder Miliband is still the brother who the smart money is on to be the next leader of the Labour party.