Triumph of the SpAds
Listening to the former Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, ruling himself out as a candidate for the leadership of his party, it occurred to me that all of the possible contenders being discussed are former ministerial bag-carriers, Special Advisors or SpAds, as they're known in the trade. Just go down the list...
There's the brothers Miliband, David and Ed, who worked, respectively for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Will one, or both, run? Or will Labour MPs be invited to choose some single transferable Miliband?
Ed Balls was Gordon Brown's right hand man in the Treasury. And the former Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, said to be dipping a cautious toe into the electoral water, was SpAd to former Culture Secretary Chris Smith.
Of course whoever wins will be facing former SpAd David Cameron, backed up by his Chancellor George Osborne who was also, you've guessed it, a bag-carrier for Michael Howard.
Quite suddenly, the top table of politics is dominated by ambitious young men who apprenticed themselves to politics in their early 20s, and have, with perhaps a few short intervals in the private sector, usually as lobbyists and PR persons, been in Westminster ever since.
The first rung on the career ladder leading to the top offices in the land can be found next to the photocopiers in various ministerial and shadow ministerial offices.
I'm Mark D'Arcy and I'll be writing about what goes on in the chambers and committee rooms at Westminster.
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