Miliband for Chancellor

Amidst the welter of gloomy, gleeful and predictable commentary on the government's woes, there is one practical and good suggestion: Peter Hyman, makes an excellent case for making David Miliband chancellor. In truth, Gordon should have done this last year; Alastair Darling, for all his political strengths, is not the right person to reassure the public or front media interviews in these times of economic difficulty. As Peter says:

I'm sure Mr Miliband himself would rather continue as Foreign Secretary, but moving him to the Treasury would show something else: that Mr Brown has the confidence to trust someone with the job, who is not in his inner circle, someone with an independent streak, who would not be pushed around. Mr Miliband would have the opportunity to take the fight back to the Tories, put David Cameron and George Osborne on the back foot and push forward a powerful agenda around his key theme of empowerment, giving people greater control over their lives.