Ed Miliband is forced into a reshuffle Balls-up

Veteran Labour politician  Alan Johnson MP has resigned today as the Shadow Chancellor for personal reasons after just three and a half months.

In a statement, Alan Johnson MP said:

"I have decided to resign from the shadow cabinet for personal reasons to do with my family."

Today's announcement follows several recent gaffes by Alan Johnson when discussing tax and economic matters, including a recent in an interview when didn't know the rate of National Insurance paid by employers!

Rumours are rife in Westminster about why Johnson has gone.  Guido has more details.

So, Ed Miliband is forced into reshuffling his titanic team - Alan Johnson is replaced by Ed Balls, previously the shadow home secretary.  Mr Balls' wife, Yvette Cooper, takes over at home affairs, Douglas Alexander becomes shadow foreign secretary and Tessa Jowell becomes shadow Cabinet Office minister.

So, Balls gets a promotion - Gordon Brown's left hand man gets what he wants.

Liam Byrne, the Labour MP who left a note on his desk in the treasury saying "there is no money left" when Labour were kicked out of Government is made shadow work and pensions secretary.

It is somewhat astounding that someone who can be so flippant finds themselves promoted.

The other strange thing about this new look cabinet, it is just like the Gordon Brown cabinet, full of people denying they had anything to do with forcing us into the position we are in now where we face paying £120million per day in interest alone, enough to build a new school every hour!

Stephen Williams, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Treasury Committee, commented earlier on the resignation of Alan Johnson MP:

“I wish Alan Johnson good luck for the future.

“The decision to appoint Ed Balls as Shadow Chancellor shows that the Labour Party is now determined to carry on with the Gordon Brown economic plan that caused so much trouble for this country.

“Ed Balls isn’t just a deficit denier, he’s a deficit enthusiast.”

Well done Stephen Williams MP, great line.

Ed Balls MP - "I’ve never been a front runner in this campaign" and "I am behind" but in it to win

Ed Balls MP has chosen to decisively stamp out the stories of last night when it was reported he was considering quitting the Labour leadership race.

Speculation about his leadership bid came last night after he failed to win the backing of the Unite union, which gave its endorsement to Ed Miliband.
Despite admitting on his campaign blog that;

"I’ve never been a front runner in this campaign, I did not have the early organisation of some other candidates and I am behind on formal CLP and union endorsements."

Ed Balls is adamant he is carrying on to the bitter end.

"I joined this contest because I believed this was a fight worth fighting for the future of our party and our country. I still do."

So, the Labour leadership race had a little hiccup last night, there was for a brief moment a bit of excitement to perhaps engage people that weren't expecting a Miliband moment and weren't bored of what appears to be a very dull campaign.

Ed Balls MP considering quitting the Labour leadership race

The Telegraph is running a story that Ed Balls is considering quitting the Labour leadership race because Britain's biggest union, Unite has backed Ed Miliband MP.

A source at Unite, which has 950,000 members who are eligible to vote in the leadership election, said: "The discussion before the vote was very much whether it should be Ed Miliband or Ed Balls. Ed Miliband won so clearly because it was thought he was the candidate best placed to be able to defeat his brother."

Ed Balls had been hoping to win Unite's backing, especially given that his close ally is Charlie Whelan who is Unite's political director – but only secured four votes compared to Ed Miliband's twenty four.

Photo: BLOOMBERG

The decision has left Ed Balls contemplating withdrawing from the fray and backing either Ed Miliband or his brother David, the former foreign secretary, who remains the bookies' favourite.

The fight now looks to be a straight two horse race between David Miliband and his brother Ed, after Ed Miliband secured the backing of three of the four largest unions, Unite, Unison and the GMB.
Each has well over 100 nominations from constituency parties – David with 151 and Ed with 140 – well ahead of the number obtained by the three other candidates, Mr Balls, Andy Burnham and Diane Abbott.

However, a senior Labour source said: "It's hard to see where Ed Balls's campaign goes from here. He faces some tough choices in the next few days."

Ladbrokes has cut their odds on Ed Miliband winning the leadership battle from 7/4 to 6/4 after yesterday's result amid a general sense of momentum building up behind the younger sibling. While David Miliband remains the favourite, his odds were lengthened from 4/7 to 4/6.
Ed Miliband last week won the key support of ex-leader Lord Kinnock as well as the backing of Baroness (Elizabeth) Smith, widow of the late John Smith, Lord Kinnock's successor as party leader.