A freak storm strikes the Fabian Society library, scattering gobbledegook in its wake - it's David Miliband's Wonknado

By Mark Wallace
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Last night, one of the greatest so-bad-it's-good films ever made hit British television screens. In Sharknado, a freak tornado tears through the sea off Los Angeles, scattering sharks across the city.

It's even worse than it sounds, but it's ok because the special effects are awful, there are several washed-up former stars and the love scene involves characters cutting their way out of a Great White. With a chainsaw.

Never one to pass up a commercial opportunity, David Miliband has produced a sequel impressively quickly, though I'm not sure it will prove as big a hit.

In his latest New Statesman article, it seems a freak tornado has torn through the library of the Fabian Society, scattering technical gobbledegook across Westminster. In short, it's a Wonknado.

Labour's Posh Boys (and Girls)

By Mark Wallace
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Back row: David Miliband, Ed Miliband, Ed Balls, Harriet Harman.

Standing in middle: Hillary Benn, Chuka Umunna.

Front row: Fiona McTaggart, Tristram Hunt, Tessa Jowell.

It's become a regular refrain from Labour ranks that the Tories are posh. The infamous Bullingdon photo, which Carla Millar today mimics above, is used as shorthand to pick at the number of privately schooled men and women in the Cabinet and in the Parliamentary Conservative Party.

The failed attempt by Labour to make class an issue in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election, with activists dressed up in top hats and tails, stands out as an example of their enthusiasm for the subject.

David Miliband's flight from the Commons is a sign of the times

By Paul Goodman
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The House of Commons has transformed itself over the past 25 years, with increasing speed, from a chamber of citizen legislators, who were funded by private interests, to one of professional politicians, who are financed by the taxpayer.

I believe this is a change for the worse, and the complaint that "they're all the same" - that we're governed by an identikit political class - has much to do with the decline of the Conservative Party and the rise of UKIP, not to mention the fall in voter turnout.

The quality of MPs, however, is unchanged, broadly speaking.  Nicola Blackwood, Zac Goldsmith, Andrea Leadsom, Charlotte Leslie, Jesse Norman, Rory Stewart...like them or loathe them, the backbenches contain as much talent as ever.

David Miliband to stand down as an MP, according to reports

By Peter Hoskin
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We interrupt the football to bring you a breaking news story: according to a report in the Mirror this evening, David Miliband is standing down as an MP. The official announcement will come tomorrow, apparently, at which point Mr Miliband will depart for a job with a charity in New York. The paper gives the charity the supermarionatious name of International Rescue – although, sadly, I think it may actually be the International Rescue Committee.

On balance, this is probably a good thing for Ed Miliband’s reign. Although the resentment between supporters of Ed and supporters of David has simmered down since that fractious leadership contest in 2010, there was still something there. With the elder Milibrother gone, it leaves disgruntled backbenchers with very few realistic suitors for their affections – certainly from the New Labour generation of the party. And means that the younger Miliband can go into the next election without a persistent reminder of the-fratricide-that-went-down-in-2010 lurking in the background.

But David Miliband’s departure does also leave Labour a weaker party. As I’ve pointed out before, he is one of the few prominent Labour figures with actual, fully-formed ideas – and, what’s more, some of them are quite sensible. He has encouraged his party to adopt a more mature attitude towards deficit reduction, as well as preached the creed of the Big Society. He was also behind the Movement for Change, a network of “community organisers” ready to press Labour’s cause at the next election.

And now? A byelection, of course. Although I wouldn’t hold out much hope for a Tory victory in South Shields, where David Miliband and Labour secured a 11,109 majority at the last election.

The Balls Ultimatum

By Peter Hoskin
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Tension between the Labour leader and the man he’s put in charge of his party’s economic policy? Who’s ever heard of such a thing?!

But, despite there being absolutely no precedent for it whatsoever, it appears that such tension may exist — at least judging by Kevin Maguire’s article for the latest issue of the New Statesman. With rumours swirling that Ed Miliband might be prepared to offer his brother the Shadow Chancellorship, friends of the incumbent Ed Balls have been speaking to Mr Maguire:

“Allies of the Shadow Chancellor whisper that he'd take his bat and balls away and retire to the backbenches rather than swallow demotion.”

If Mr Miliband is considering triggering Mr Balls’s displeasure, you can understand why. Labour consistently lag behind the Tories when it comes to polling on economic competence, despite their hefty poll leads overall. And there’s a sense that the Shadow Chancellor is not having the impact he might, nor making all the right calls, including during the ongoing row over benefits.

David Miliband backs Osborne's spending envelope

By Paul Goodman
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That, at any rate, is Nicholas Watt's view over at the Guardian.  On Wintour and Watt, he writes that reports of Miliband's speech in yesterday's welfare debate have missed "the most significant aspect of his speech – an apparent attempt to reframe Labour's economic policy which is being run by his great rival Ed Balls."

Watt says that while Miliband lined up with Balls on spending priorities he parted from him on spending figures.  He writes:

The former foreign secretary told MPs he accepted the government's "envelope" in a key part of the public finances – a line Balls has yet to cross. *Miliband said the debate should not focus on affordability but about priorities within the "envelope" of "all benefits, all tax credits and all tax relief for the next few years".

Although Ed Miliband is less popular with Labour supporters than David Miliband, he insists his leadership is "winning the battle of ideas"

By Joseph Willits 
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In today's Sunday Times (£) there were yet more unnerving polling results for Ed Miliband, receiving his lowest (negative) rating so far as Labour leader from the party's supporters. 49% of those who vote Labour felt that Miliband was doing badly, compared to 46% who believed he was doing well. The YouGov poll gave Miliband an overall rating of -3, compared to Cameron's positive net score of 91.

Polling those of all voting intentions, David Miliband topped the survey with 21% holding the view that he would be a better party leader, compared to Ed Miliband's 7%. Interestingly, Alistair Darling was second choice with 9%. However, there was a marked difference in favour of David Miliband amongst Labour support, with 34% compared to 12% for his brother.

Speaking on this morning's Andrew Marr Show, mainly to defend the Labour party's new stance on cuts, Miliband was full of defiant soundbites, stating that Labour was "winning the battle of ideas."

Although Miliband told Andrew Marr that "if Labour was in power now, we wouldn't be making those changes, we wouldn't be cutting as far and as fast as the government", he said it was right to support the Government's pay freeze for public sector workers:

"It's a hard choice, but when you are faced with the choice between protecting jobs or saying the money should go into pay rises I think it's right to protect jobs."

Ed Miliband to open up Labour leadership elections to the public?

By Matthew Barrett
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Will Ed Miliband open up Labour's leadership elections to the public? Not quite. Mr Miliband has tabled proposals at a meeting of Labour's National Executive Committee to create "tens of thousands" of "registered supporters" who will be eligible to vote in future leadership elections. However, the "registered supporters" would be included in the part of Labour's electoral college which includes the unions and affiliated socialist societies (the Fabian Society, Christian Socialist Movement, Labour Students, etc), which means - on the face of it - the unions’ share of the leadership votes will be cut.

Contrary to how this news might be reported, the proposal is modest and does not mean ordinary folk will really be able to influence elections. The reality is that non-party members have always been able to vote - the affiliated societies section can include non-members, and the trade unions section already includes plenty of non-Labour members. For example, members and supporters of the Conservatives, who were also union members, were allowed a vote in last year's Labour leadership election. 

One quarter of voters look at a photo of Ed Miliband and think it's David Miliband...

By Tim Montgomerie
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A photograph of one of the Miliband brothers.

Some light relief...

23% of people see a photo of Ed Miliband and think it's David Miliband and 26% of people think David Miliband is Ed Miliband.

33% of voters correctly recognise Yvette Cooper as Yvette Cooper but 20% think she's Harriet Harman.

30% of people correctly recognise Douglas Alexander as Douglas Alexander but just as many think he's Andy Burnham.

Only 25% of voters can correctly identify Jim Murphy. More voters (30%) identify him as Liam Byrne.

Ed Balls is the most recognisable member of the top Labour team. 68% correctly identify him. Only 64% correctly identify the Labour leader.

And in evidence that the Conservatives are serious about 'knowing the enemy', Conservative voters are more likely to correctly identify the Labour shadow cabinet than Labour voters.

The results come from a ComRes poll of more than 2,000 voters for The Independent.

General Secretary of Unison urges Ed Miliband to stop making "reasonable statements"

By Matthew Barrett
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The impression from the papers today and over the last few days is that Ed Miliband is under attack from the Blairite "right" of the Labour Party: David Miliband's leaked victory speech (what might have been, if he'd won), the Telegraph files showing Ed Miliband and Ed Balls plotted to bring Blair's government down, the serialisation of a new booking suggesting the Milibands' relationship has broken down...

Less coverage has been given to the left-wing side of the pincer movement against Ed Miliband's leadership. The Independent on Sunday reports:

"In a further blow, the head of Britain's biggest public sector union, Dave Prentis, who backed Ed Miliband in the contest, rounded on the Labour leadership for failing to stand up for the NHS. In an interview with The Independent on Sunday, the Unison general secretary suggested the Labour leader can no longer count on his union's automatic support when he said he still has "a lot to get right" and should abandon the strategy of only issuing "reasonable statements"."

What does Mr Prentis want Ed Miliband to say? Does he want more of the misjudged rhetoric from the TUC march, at which Ed Miliband compared anti-cuts demonstrators to civil rights marchers and suffragists? Prentis' union supported Ed Miliband during the leadership contest and, during the campaign, Prentis said the unions should have a greater say in policy formulation. Today's signal of unhappiness with Miliband is significant because it is the first sign of dissent from Unison.