James Forsyth James Forsyth

David Miliband keeps the door ajar

The list for the shadow Cabinet elections shows that no David Miliband supporter who was going to stand for the shadow Cabinet has decided not to run following Ed Miliband’s victory. It’ll be intriguing to see what the party balance of the shadow Cabinet is following these elections. There is an expectation that Yvette Cooper will top the poll now that David Miliband is not standing.

David Miliband’s decision not to stand was as expected. As one fellow hack pointed out to me the other day, if David had stayed on the public would never have worked out which Miliband was which and the press would have constantly looked for a split story.

But it is striking that David Miliband is staying on as an MP and not ruling out a return to front-line politics at some point. He is not shutting down all his political options yet.

One other thing worth noting today is how Ed Miliband has removed Nick Brown from the scene. Considering that the Brownite bruisers played a role in swinging a crucial number of second preference votes behind the younger Miliband, this is a move that shows Ed Miliband has no desire to be dependent on them. How they respond to that remains to be seen. 

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