David Milliband: Sauve qui peut!

David Milliband: Sauve qui peut!

Practically every bit of news both nationally and internationally indicates that there is an impending catastrophe with serious political consequences. As the European Union flag is torn apart and burnt in Cyprus and the EU masters send contradictory messages, I reckon some politicians who know what is coming would like to be far away from the political wreckage. David Milliband has chosen wisely. A job in the United States, completely detached from British politics, would allow him to pursue his personal career without being affected by blame linked to the political and financial chaos that the United Kingdom is facing and will face in the not so distant future.

The debacle within the Labour Party continues apace as the party faces debts for more than 9 million Pound. When things go wrong, the present leadership of the Labour Party will take the flak as it has undoubtedly taken the flack in two recent by-elections when a Labour Party in opposition should be gaining ground. The series of scandals related to paedophilia and expenses have not done any favours to the public image of the Labour Party. The situation is such that even in the present circumstances there is no issue of leadership challenge because only some irrational individual would like to take the flag. Walking away is the best option. Being a backbencher of an Opposition Party with little hope of joining the official team – not even as Shadow Secretary - did not seem like a good political career path for somebody who reached the peak as British Foreign Secretary.

His brother Ed Milliband made a huge effort in terms of damage limitation. Having his brother playing an insignificant role inside the Labour Party was damaging but seeing his brother walking away from his parliamentary seat could be even more damaging. The Milliband spell is broken and when you look around you see nobody in the Labour ranks that could have the same kind of charisma. Ed Balls, the one man that could take the rains of the Labour Party, has the charisma of a nightclub bouncer; and among the female representatives you can hardly find one that doesn’t suffer some sort of hysteria that makes people unfit for office. Ed Milliband might be unappealing but the Labour Party finds itself between a rock and a hard place.