In one respect, the Energy Secretary stands head and shoulders above the rest of the Labour cabinet. Ed gets things done. While colleagues like Chancellor Rachel Reeves lurch from one disaster to the next, he grabs the wheel and puts his foot down. The net zero transition was timetabled for 2035. Miliband brought it forward five years and hit the gas. Today, he’s plastering fertile countryside with wind turbines and solar panels we don’t even need. He’s bulldozing local opposition to force them through, while yelling “Nimby” at anyone who objects.
Miliband is also chucking tens of billions at vanity projects such as the Great British Energy quango, and billions more at unproven carbon capture technology. He doesn’t care that the money might be better spent defending Britain against Vladimir Putin. He doesn’t care that he’s wiping out tens of thousands of jobs in the North Sea oil and gas industry. And he certainly doesn’t feel the need to explain why energy bills, instead of falling by £300 as promised, are soaring. Miliband never looks back. He just screeches ahead.
There’s only one thing he believes in more than net zero, and that’s gaining more power for himself. He was willing to shove his brother aside to win the Labour leadership in 2010. Now he’s busily plotting against his own boss, from inside the cabinet. One minute he’s nodding and smiling at PM Keir Starmer, the next he’s on the blower to Andy Burnham, plotting his path to power. Miliband is a natural born backstabber. Yesterday, I warned Burnham he should watch his own back. Now it looks like he’s woken up to the danger.
Ed Miliband has always been a spectacle. Eyes bulging, arms waving. But lately there’s been a new glint in his eye. Power has gone to his head. He’s relishing his new role as Labour’s king maker. In return for installing Burnham in Number 10, he’s named his price. Boot out hapless Rachel Reeves and make him chancellor. As I argued yesterday, that’s a terrifying prospect. So terrifying that even Burnham is having second thoughts.
Miliband is openly telling people he’s got the keys to Number 11. Burnham’s team is shocked at his presumption. They’re also worried about Miliband’s net zero obsession. Burnham doesn’t share Miliband’s mono-mania. He’s more pragmatic. Which is the polite way of describing his endless stream of flip-flops and U-turns. The last thing Burnham needs is a Chancellor who careers off in his own madcap direction and refuses to be reined in.
Miliband has a reputation for steamrollering cabinet colleagues, even senior ones like the PM or chancellor. He talks them down, eyes bulging, arms waving etc. And if he doesn’t get his way, he throws a hissy fit until he does, with threats of resignations and worse.
If Burnham reaches Number 10, he’ll have enough on his plate without finding himself screaming in the passenger seat while Miliband ploughs through the safety barriers and drives economic policy into a ditch, just as he’s doing with energy policy.
Burnham is now sounding out more sensible figures to take the role. He won’t find many of those in Labour. Shabana Mahmood, perhaps. John Healey, maybe. It’s a thin list. He might even keep Rachel Reeves, even though she keeps stalling the charabanc. Ed Miliband was always likely to go too far, too fast. Would you fancy getting into a car with him? Now his career could be accelerating straight into a brick wall. Let’s hope so anyway.