What's happened to Ed Miliband in the last few days? Have the best bits of him been cloned and the remainder cast out into the stratosphere? Even Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail acknowledged his most recent appearance at PMQs put the Prime Minister under pressure. Ed now flexes his big boy muscles again and with those Bambi eyes ablaze, has announced that he wants rid of the shadow cabinet being voted by party members to give him the freedom, as leader, to appoint those he believes will help Labour win the next election.
It strikes me that he has had a few telephone conversations with one Lord Mandelson, who had previously stated that Ed should be "less timid" and not so cosy with the Trade Unions, who will soon be in real confrontation with the Coalition government over pensions and other reforms. The problem for Labour is that it must not be seen to be too close to those unions hellbent on civil obedience, at a time when the majority of the population will not be in the mood to support public workers' demands for a continuation of their inflated gold-plated pensions.
Perhaps Mr Miliband is finally finding his voice as party leader, something he needs to do quickly, with opinion polls placing his popularity even lower than Nick Clegg's. He needs to concentrate on issues and not the tired soundbites he has previously used to replace what too often has appeared to be a total lack of Labour policies or genuine direction.
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