On Monday morning, another bout of history happened. At a podium on Downing Street, a tearful Sir Keir Starmer became the latest prime minister to quit mid-term. On the West Coast Mainline, a train carrying Andy Burnham, Sir Keir Starmer’s inevitable replacement, hurtled from Manchester to London, like Lenin on an Avanti Pendolino. But inside Labour, the changes at 10 Downing Street provoked less chatter than who would occupy 11 Downing Street as chancellor. There are two candidates: Ed Miliband and Not Ed Miliband.
British politics has undergone a Copernican revolution: it now revolves around Mr Miliband. Research spelling out how grumpy fund managers would be about Mr Miliband was pushed out by people who want Wes Streeting, a former health secretary from the party’s right, or “anyone but Ed”. During an interview at ARC, a right-wing conference, the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, mentioned Mr Miliband more times than she did Mr Burnham, the future prime minister. “DOn’T PUT economy at mercy of ‘RED ED’”, screamed the Daily Mail. The past, present and, perhaps, the future of British politics orbit Mr Miliband.