After getting slayed last week by his former advisor policy guru Lord Glasman, for having “no strategy, no narrative and little energy”, put under pressure by Labour Shadow defence secretary, Jim Murphy, who said that Labour should not simply oppose all government spending cuts, and finishing the week being mocked for his Bob Holness #blackbusters tweet, talk of who might replace him is bubbling and some of it is incredibly daft.
The Daily Mail is reporting that Alistair Darling is being touted as a ‘compromise’ Labour leadership candidate if Ed Miliband is forced to quit as talk of his lacklustre leadership continues.
That’s right Labour’s very own John Major as leader. The man who Gordon Brown didn’t have the balls to sack when he had the chance, but then he didn’t have the balls for much else either, as Labour leader.
Talk of Darling comes as Miliband prepares a relaunch next week amid growing worry about his ability to lead Labour.
So if not Ed then who? Yvette Cooper is another, more serious name, that is being talked of:
“Speculation about a potential replacement for Mr Miliband is focused on Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, who easily topped the last ballot of Labour MPs to elect a Shadow Cabinet.
But Mr Darling is being mentioned privately as a possibility, though it is far from clear he could be persuaded to stand and would certainly not wield the knife against Mr Miliband.
Senior Tories would not welcome a return to the frontline for Mr Darling, who they believe was the one senior member of the last government to emerge from the financial crisis with any credit, ” the Mail reports.
It comes as former Labour cabinet minister Alan Johnson warns in the Mirror that Miliband must do more to get his message across and to recover from a shaky start to 2012.
And as it is also reported in a poll that most voters not think that Miliband is doing a worse job than Nick Clegg. Than Clegg?.
“The YouGov survey found that just 20 per cent of people say Miliband is performing well as Labour leader, while 21 per cent think the same of Clegg as leader of the Liberal Democrats, despite his party’s unpopularity. By contrast, 44 per cent of people think David Cameron is doing well as Prime Minister.”The findings – the worst for Mr Miliband since he defeated his brother David for the Labour crown – came as MPs began to suggest publicly that he needs to ‘get a grip’, according to the report.
