Remember this from exactly a year ago?
Did his dithering blow Labour’s election chances?
The first Thursday in June exactly a year ago was one of the most significant days in the history of the Labour government when one man, David Miliband, had to make probably the toughest call of his political career.
Should he join the Works and Pensions Secretary, James Purnell, who resigned at precisely 10pm as soon as voting in that day’s local and EU elections came to an end or should he stay and support Gordon?
The atmosphere was electric and all eyes were on him? Would he join and would two high profile departures combined with Labour’s terrible election performance on that day cause the PM to step aside.
For looking back there was never a better chance for a rebellion against Mr. Brown to succeed but, not for the first time, Miliband held back and the rest, as they say, is history.
Given Labour’s polling performance since Brown’s departure then there’s a good argument for saying that the general election outcome could have been different if he had stepped aside a year ago.
It didn’t happen. Labour lost and now Mili-D is hot favourite for the leadership. Could, I wonder, his decision to back Brown a year ago become a leadership election issue? It certainly says a lot about the man because you wonder whether he’s got the killer instinct.