Will the Milibands’ drama turn into a revenge tragedy?

‘If this was a play, David would come back in two years’ time and take the crown from Ed,’ one David Miliband supporter whispered to me moments after the Labour leadership result was announced.

‘If this was a play, David would come back in two years’ time and take the crown from Ed,’ one David Miliband supporter whispered to me moments after the Labour leadership result was announced. As we shuffled out of the hall together he chuckled at the thought, at how absurd it was. In real-life, this Miliband family drama was surely a one-act play.

Some David supporters, though, are refusing to accept that when the curtain falls, it is time to get off the stage. His supporters are on restless patrol throughout Westminster. The rage that made them so loquacious in the bar the night after the Labour leadership result was announced has not subsided. They tell those who will listen that they are being proven right, that the younger brother is demonstrably not up to it.

They have convinced themselves that Ed’s decision to run against his brother makes him a usurper, so it is not treason to scheme against him. Their other justification for their actions is that they are the only people in the party who know how to win elections. They, not those who are loyal to the leader, are the real party loyalists in this warped world view.

There is no plot, or anything like it yet. But they maintain that it will be David, not Ed, Miliband who will lead Labour into the next election.

David, as is his wont, is flirting with this drama. Newspaper editors are being thanked for their support during his leadership bid. There is the odd appearance in the atrium of Portcullis House, the new social heart of the Palace of Westminster, resplendent in his trademark black suit trousers and sharp white shirt to remind Labour MPs that he’s still around.