Despite his many gaffes, and the continuing unseaworthiness of SS Labour, I don't think anyone could ever accuse Alan Johnson of deserting the old tub by 'copping out'. If the news of his serious family problems are correct, he has my sympathies on that score. (Ouch!) As Shadow Chancellor, this friendly-faced Labour politician who lacks any great numeracy skills, but to oblige Ed Miliband stumbled around blindly in an economic fog just to keep Ed Balls at bay, was always a square peg in a round hole. It was never going to work, and In my opinion he is far better off out of it.
So, with the lack of any credible new blood in Labour capable of doing the job, it looks like round one goes to Ed Balls - the man who would be king, and maybe will one day soon! Make no mistake about it, once the honeymoon period is over, Miliband and Balls will be going at it Ed to Ed, and I know which one I'd put my money on! It can only be desperation that has made Ed Miliband appoint him as the Shadow Chancellor. Many will see this man as heavily tarnished.
We should never forget: Ed Balls was responsible for helping Gordon Brown accumulate a massive debt which grew to become the largest out of all the G7 countries, took Britain's financial credibility to the very brink, and today leaves us paying off the worst deficit we have known in peacetime history. It was also Ed Balls who wrote the banking regulations, advocated that banks should keep on borrowing, removed regulatory power over them from the Bank of England, had a hand in selling off Britain