Ed Finalises His Team With Alan Johnson As Shadow Chancellor

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11499638
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2010/10/why_has_johnson.html

Ed Miliband has chosen safe pair of hands Alan Johnson as his Shadow Chancellor.

The announcement comes after much speculation over who would get the key post.

The new Labour leader has opted not to go for early favourite Ed Balls,  thus avoiding any accusations that he is taking the Party to the left by having someone who has spoken up very strongly in favour of delaying spending cuts and was a prominent supporter of Gordon Brown in the last Labour Government.

This is a wise choice and shows once again that he is prepared to make bold decisions.  He certainly cannot be accused of taking Labour back to the left. And Alan Johnson has a reputation for being a loyalist. He will be invaluable in taking the party's message out to the voters and persuading them to come back to Labour at the next election.

Yvette Cooper, who was also considered a strong contender for Shadow Chancellor, is now Shadow Foreign Secretary.  She will no doubt be very competent in this role, but I am not sure whether it was a wise choice to give her the Women and Equalities brief as well. Foreign Affairs is a huge department, which needs someone's full attention and I think maybe the responsiblity for Women and Equalities should have been given to someone with a less demanding role - Caroline Flint, perhaps.

Shaun Woodward stays in the Shadow Cabinet as a wildcard, despite failing to make it into the top places in the MPs' ballot.

All in all, though, Labour now has a very strong and experienced team to take on the Coalition and take Labour back to power in 2015.