[Deckard]

Ed was elected party leader last September thanks largely to the way the party relies on union votes in leadership contests. Had it not been for that union support, his elder brother David would, without question, have won. For years, it had been assumed by most (including David himself, I think) that he (David) was going to be the next Labour leader - in fact we still believed it right up to the very last minute when the result was announced and his brother pipped him to his lifelong ambition.

Initially I was very pleased. Politically I always thought Ed was in about the same place as me on the spectrum - not the warmongering right of the party like David, not the militant left. I tended to share many of his views.

But I'll be damned... something about becoming leader has turned him into Supernerd!

I think inexperience and lack of self-assuredness has a lot to do with it. He was quite off-the-cuff and natural before. Also I think he's probably being poorly advised/managed. Like Gordon Brown before him.

Either way, it's a dismal thing to watch and unless he learns from it, he won't last another 12 months.