Miliband is one minister who doesn’t want to be PM, and is more than happy to let Starmer think he is still in control
I
t was a day for one of the Top Team. The safest of safe hands. A grownup. That didn’t mean the likes of Emma Reynolds. Emma looks permanently startled at the best of times. Especially when there’s a microphone around. Give her more than 30 seconds and she’ll confess to crimes she didn’t commit.
And certainly not Wes Streeting. Not even Wes trusts Wes. His denials over any involvement with Anas Sarwar’s Monday press conference weren’t 100% convincing. Nor was his insistence that he had never much liked Peter Mandelson. In his WhatsApps, Wes uses one kiss for those he hates and two for those he loves. Apparently.
Ordinarily it would have been Pat McFadden on the morning media round. Keir Starmer’s personal enforcer. But Pat hasn’t been quite himself since touring the studios on Sunday to tell broadcasters it would make no sense for Morgan McSweeney to resign. Nor was his delivery ideal. Pat is one of life’s natural depressives. You get the feeling that a smile costs him. Even when he’s trying to be upbeat, he still sounds as if he’s giving a funeral eulogy. Something best avoided on today of all days.
