Ed Balls is right about the Miliband soap opera

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Writing for LabourList last night, Ed Balls used a phrase that may well be taken on by others as we head into the final stages of the leadership contest – “Miliband soap opera”.

From the outset of this campaign, the media have shown a dogged determination to make this race about the two brothers, putting them at its centre, pivoting the rest of the race (and the other candidates) around the fraternal battle – and trying to relegate the rest of the campaign, and the other three candidates, to a sideshow.

Of course it’s easier for the press to write about a human story – the battle between two close, yet different bothers – than it is to write about the policies and issues that have really driven this campaign, the harsh impact of the cuts that this coalition government have presided over, and the way that the Labour Party has (by and large) conducted itself impeccably over the course of this leadership campaign.

In a way this may have helped Ed Miliband. He has far less experience that his shadow cabinet colleague Andy Burnham, yet he is the second favourite with a real chance of winning, while Burnham struggles to make a breakthrough. There is bound to be resentment from more established politicians (because that is what Burnham, Balls and Abbott are) that Ed Miliband has risen through a mixture of political skill and brotherly rivalry to be a frontrunner, and yet there has been little acrimony or back-biting. Do not let people tell you that the Labour Party is divided, that’s simply not the case.

Many people, both inside and outside of the party, have been crying out for conflict, the rending of hair and the gnashing of teeth that is supposed to come with the loss of power. A period in opposition is never a good thing for a political party, but what we are seeing already, regardless of who wins, is the start of a renewal process. Ideas and policies oft-mooted by members at ward meetings, conferences and online are now at the centre of debate about how we move this party forwards, how we beat this government and how we get back to helping the people hurt most by the coalition.