And so it begins

We always knew that it had to happen, Labour have managed to hold it together for a lot longer than I thought they ever could before the inevitable spats that party politics inevitably causes turned ugly.

They managed 16 years of outward unity in the face of the egos of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown seeking the same job, the drip-drip-drip spite of Peter Mandelson who much prefers to be the power behind the throne and the positioning of the up and coming apparatchiks Balls and the Miliband brothers.

All the rest was just the behaviour of ordinary politicians - Jaqui Smith, Prescott, Blears, Hewitt, Hoon and all the others just grandstanding for their own benefit, some financial, most just ego strokers.

But that's all over now, and the calculations have been made, the party can descend (much as the Tories have done in the past, and will do in the future) into a power struggle for the leadership of it, and for the inner circle membership of that leadership.

Which makes for much more interesting politics I always think.

So here we have the first real blow, and like all great stories it's the young prince killing the king. Or in this case:

David Miliband says public lost trust in Labour

David Miliband has criticised Gordon Brown's record in office, saying Labour's failings worsened under him.

Mr Miliband said the former Prime Minister had failed to demonstrate the "moral seriousness" he had promised.

The shadow Foreign Secretary said that by the time of the election in May Labour had lost the people's trust.

and then goes on...

He said: "I supported and voted for him. I agreed that we needed greater moral seriousness and less indifference to the excesses of a celebrity-drenched culture.


"I agreed with him when he said that we needed greater coherence as a government, particularly in relation to child poverty and equality.

"I agreed with him on the importance of party reform and a meaningful internationalism that would be part of a unified government strategy.

"I agreed that we needed a civic morality to champion civility when confronting a widespread indifference to others.

"But it didn't happen." 

This is the Miliband who refused to criticise Brown in office at all, and even stood by when one of his allies tried to get a bandwagon rolling. So is this something he's just realised he felt throughout the past three years? No, he knows Gordon is now yesterday's man so he's trying to establish himself as tomorrow's.

Good for him, except... read that second part again. I agreed, I agreed, I agreed. Oh! Whether intentional or not he's just stabbed Tony Blair in the back too. For he's saying that Blair had allowed an immoral, frivolous, celebrity obsessed and aloof Prime Ministership to thrive.

So he was in government through two Prime Ministers that he disagreed with during their office and said, well nothing really. And now he's going to be the man to 'renew' Labour.

Did he think all this up by himself or is he being led in a particular strategic direction? His main rivals for leader are Ed Balls (Brown's closest ally) and his own brother Ed (another Brownie). So he's positioned himself against the position of the Brownies, but also managed to distance himself against Blair - who is mistrusted because of his record on foreign policy in particular. Will either man be willing to also speak out against Brown, or risk defending the man who lost them the election, but neither can now misdirect onto Blair.

And who should turn up but our old friend Peter Mandelson, the real heart and soul of the current Labour party, mistrusted at best by most, figure of disgust by many within that party, and yet in thrall to his magic. He helped them win power, and for lefties power is all that really matters. Integrity, well thought through positions and a desire to see individuals succeed are alien concepts. All that matters is power and the perpetuation of the conditions to keep that power (keep people in need of you).

Here's the charming Peter, the one who returned from the EU to shore up, um, Gordon Brown when he was in trouble (and danger of losing that power):

Brown waged 'insurgency from next door' against Blair, says Lord Mandelson

At times, Lord Mandelson said, Mr Brown feared that he had “killed” all three men, but, wound up by his lieutenants, was unable to stop the feud, meaning that Mr Blair was forced to devote too much energy dealing with him.

The former business secretary said some of the blame for the hostilities lay with the people around Mr Brown who, he said, treated Mr Blair with “unbridled contempt”. 

I think we can see the attack on Ed Balls for what it is here. We all knew Mandelson was going to push David Miliband as his preferred candidate - though it's probably a safe bet anyway. Which just goes to prove they need that backstabbing and infighting to feel alive.

And so it begins.