It is now clear why Ed Milliband hesitated to appoint Balls to Shadow Chancellor. He is no good.
Milliband has been playing well on the economy, voicing anxieties of ‘families up and down the ccountry’ and the ‘squeezed middle’. Having raised the anxieties, you have to offer a plan. This is where you turn to your shadow chancellor to set out the coherent and cohesive programme for economic recovery which the government in waiting, as oppositions like to see themselves, has ready. His first incumbent hadn’t a clue; the replacement has some clues but they are either false trails or misread. Add to this a rather confusing style of speaking (shades of Prescott) and you have the kind of mauling which Ed Balls received at the hands of Evan Davis this morning on Today.
In contrast, Nick Clegg, who, post tuition fees has had a terrible time, had yesterday a very good day. Coherent on the media, powerful in the Commons, first he promoted the need for social mobility, which gladdened the hearts of his party, then he went to the rescue of the beleaguered Tories who are desperately trying to haul their health reforms out of the ditch. He is even beginning to exhibit some of the style of the political heavyweight. Perhaps this is because his image as the honest, fresh faced idealist, bringing a new openness to politics, is more than a little tarnished. If he morphs into a bruising big hitter, he could be an even bigger asset to the troubled Cameron. He could also be a problem for Labour, led by the gentle Milliband and post Big Clunking Fist.