Keir Starmer will have breathed a deep sigh of relief on Friday morning when Angela Rayner finally resigned. What took her so long? Why the Prime Minister didn’t have the courage to sack her, remains a mystery.
But there’s an even bigger mystery puzzling Westminster watchers: how Ed Miliband managed to keep his job in the almighty reshuffle that followed.
Well, apparently the Prime Minister tried to move Miliband out of his energy brief and into the housing department. But Red Ed refused and Sir Keir meekly backed down.
The PM’s lack of mettle is going to cost you a lot of money. Sir Keir’s net zero czar is intent on destroying the UK economy with his scarily-long list of dreadful ideas.
Anyone who has paid an energy bill recently will have felt the full force of Mr Miliband’s genius. According to one expert, his green levies account for as much as 25% of home energy costs. And, despite Red Ed’s promise to cut energy bills by £300 before the next election, they could end up rising by £900 instead.
Worse still, his cunning plan to pay wind farms to stop producing electricity is costing the taxpayer a staggering £670m a year. This is not to mention the £800bn bill we’ll be lumped with until 2051 if Mr Miliband has his way.
For now, polls show the public largely supports the plan to cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. But Mr Miliband’s personal popularity ratings have hit their lowest level in four years.
I suspect those numbers will only get worse as the costs of Miliband’s eco-zealotry become painfully clear.
If Keir Starmer has any sense, he will find his backbone and show Mr Miliband the door before it’s too late.