A Shrewd Move by Red Ed

So! A shocker was revealed today! Rather than Ed Balls or his wife being given the top job of Shadow Chancellor it was instead given to the former Postman Alan Johnson. I thought he'd be given something senior, such as Shadow Foreign Secretary, but certainly not Shadow Chancellor.
Now, this can be viewed in a couple of ways. The first way is that Ed la Rouge is simply trying to stop a repeat of the public soap opera which was a two members of a family fighting it out to one job, as the leadership was. Trying to prevent a public split such as when his brother flounced off in a huff. The second way, the one which I follow, is that he is putting up the genuinely likable and self made Alan Johnson against the (or so they will try and show him to be) cold and aristocratic George Osborne. It will present this seemingly normal chap against a seemingly aloof Osbourn as the cuts hit. I believe this is what Labour is trying to do. Now, there is a third reason also. Ed Balls and his wife are both quite independently minded (especially the former). Placing the economically illiterate Alan Johnson as the Treasury could mean that Miliband, being a trained economist, has a full grip over it and won't let the Brown/Blair sagas repeat. It could, of course, be all three mixed together.

Balls at the Home Office makes sense. He's Labour's best attack dog and T. May is the coalition's most senior weak link. His wife as Foreign Sec. was a surprise but also makes sense; a senior role, just not the role of Chancellor. Jim Murphy at defence shows that Labour doesn't take defence seriously. I would have been tempted to put an attack dog in here to try and force cracks in the coalition, Liam Fox being the favourite to resign. But, as a Tory, who am I to tell the Labour leader how to do his job! Bringing back Peter Hain, despite the fact he lost on the vote, was just silly. I expect it's some sort of empty gesture to show they still represent Labour's heartland (Wales).

The rest are a bit dull. A pretty much unknown cabinet for an unknown leader.