The safe pair of hands hangs up his gloves. Farewell to the unlikely heavyweight, Alistair Darling

Alistair Darling is an unusual figure in politics. He has carved out a career as a safe pair of hands in the unlikeliest of circumstances. As Ed Miliband said of him last night, “His was a calm head when calm heads were needed.‎”

“Calm” and “safe” are not exactly the type of descriptions to get the pulses racing. But it is to Darling’s credit that they are the things people say about a man who ran the Treasury during the worst financial crash in decades. That he came out of it with any credibility left is impressive; that he arguably came out of it with more beggars belief.

Then, only two years after his apparent retirement from frontline politics, he took on a job that carried with it a weight of responsibility that would have understandably deterred many. Do not let the polls in the final month of the Scottish referendum colour your view of it: ultimately, the No vote won with a very healthy majority. As chair of Better Together, he managed to deftly navigate a series of obstacles that would have felled a lesser politician.

His performance during the first televised debate with Alex Salmond was perfectly executed. Faced with one of the most charismatic political performers of his generation, Darling brought the focus to the issues he wanted to talk about, leaving Salmond struggling to land a blow.

What those issues were leaves lessons for Labour in the run up to the General Election. When No voters were polled on their reasons for voting, among the most popular choices were the currency, jobs and pensions. As the Better Together campaign looked to be facing the brunt of an anti-politics mood, he proved that you can still motivate people to vote in their droves if you manage to appeal to them on factors that will affect their everyday lives.

Can Labour hope to lead on those economic issues in the run-up to polling day in May? It seems unlikely. Perhaps if Darling had a more prominent Labour role in the next seven months that could change, and many had tipped him for a potential Shadow Cabinet return. Unfortunately, his announcement yesterday was not that the heavyweight would return, but that he was hanging up his gloves.

His presence will be missed not just for political reasons. His good nature and lack of factionalism has won him friends in Parliamentary across political allegiances – and it is these characteristics that meant when he criticised the Brown operation in Number 10 in his memoir, his words stung all the more.

Perhaps, though, we have not seen the back of him just. In his interview with the Financial Times, the 60-year-old says he does not plan to stop working just yet. “I’m still relatively young, I’d like to do other things,” he says.

While these other things may be to pursue a late career in the private sector, it is interesting that there is another referendum he’d like to help out with. The former Chancellor forsees an EU referendum is the near-future, no matter who wins next year’s election, and would like to help the in campaign. His advice? Pro-Europeans should start campaigning soon. “If you sit back and wait till the other lot have taken so much ground then you’re on the back foot. You pay a heavy price.”

It’s also understood that Alan Johnson has a keen interest in arguing for the UK’s continued membership of the EU now he has finished his second memoir, so a future “In” campaign could have the benefit of two of Labour’s most respected and experienced campaigners.

As Darling himself says, after a banking crash and a Scottish referendum, no one will accuse him of ducking out early when he stands down in May. An EU referendum in the next few years might just be the only thing big enough to lure him back.