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Ed Miliband quietly dropped Chuka Umunna as his PPS this week for a more experienced fixer

By Jonathan Isaby
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Picture 3 Something which I failed to note during the week was a mini-reshuffle of the Labour front bench.

Ochil and South Perthshire Labour MP, Gordon Banks, resigned as a shadow business minister to "concentrate on his constituency" (for which read "try and see off the SNP threat in his constituency").

His replacement on the BIS team is none other than the fabled "British Obama" of Labour's 2010 intake, Chuka Umunna (pictured, left), after notching up just seven months working as PPS to Ed Miliband.

At this stage in a parliamentary career, I would suggest that being PPS to the Opposition Leader is more prestigious than being a very junior frontbench spokesman, so I wonder if Umunna was deemed not to be cutting the mustard for Miliband.

His replacement as Miliband's PPS certainly has years of experience as behind-the-scenes fixer: Michael Dugher (pictured, right) is, like Miliband, a South Yorkshire MP and has worked both as a ministerial special adviser and at the Unite union, not to mention a spell as chief spokesman for one Gordon Brown...

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