Ed Flexes His Muscles
Labour leader - Ed Miliband - is trying to flex his muscles by picking a fight with his own party - over elections to Labour's shadow cabinet.
The significance of this move will pass most people by - or alternatively bore them to death.
But it revolves around Labour's rules which presently require members of the shadow cabinet to be elected by Labour MPs - instead of being appointed by the party leader.
So the Labour leader does not have a free hand to appoint the people he wants - he has to play the hand dealt with him by the electorate - in this case the wider group of Westminster Labour MPs.
As far as fights go - an arcane dispute about Labour party democracy - is not going to set the blood racing or catch the public's imagination.
Unlike Tony Blair's move - when he became Labour leader in 1994 - to re-write and replace Clause 4 of Labour's constitution - as a symbol of how much the party had changed.
Ed will almost certainly get his way - but to my mind it's small beer, nothing radical or challenging - the sign of a lack of ambition.
Who really cares whether Labour MPs pick the shadow cabinet - it's a dull, inward looking issue and it's all about about Labour in opposition.
Which is precisely where the party will stay - if it doesn't get its act together soon.
The significance of this move will pass most people by - or alternatively bore them to death.
But it revolves around Labour's rules which presently require members of the shadow cabinet to be elected by Labour MPs - instead of being appointed by the party leader.
So the Labour leader does not have a free hand to appoint the people he wants - he has to play the hand dealt with him by the electorate - in this case the wider group of Westminster Labour MPs.
As far as fights go - an arcane dispute about Labour party democracy - is not going to set the blood racing or catch the public's imagination.
Unlike Tony Blair's move - when he became Labour leader in 1994 - to re-write and replace Clause 4 of Labour's constitution - as a symbol of how much the party had changed.
Ed will almost certainly get his way - but to my mind it's small beer, nothing radical or challenging - the sign of a lack of ambition.
Who really cares whether Labour MPs pick the shadow cabinet - it's a dull, inward looking issue and it's all about about Labour in opposition.
Which is precisely where the party will stay - if it doesn't get its act together soon.
