THE HONEYBALL BUZZ

So it’s Ed M by less than a whisker – 1.3% to be precise.

However, as Polly Toynbee has just said on the Andrew Marr show, this was no Denis Healey/Tony Benn election.  There quite simply was no big political difference between Miliband E and Miliband D.

Given this, I truly believe there will no difficulty in the Labour Party uniting behind the new Leader. While commiserating for David, I feel strongly we should, and will, now all get on with the business of opposition, pulling together and avoiding even the merest hint of factionalism.    

I arrived at Labour Party Conference on Friday evening and joined the queue to get into the Leadership announcement yesterday afternoon. Before the announcement of the ballot result we were treated to the inevitable speeches.

 Gordon Brown has undergone a transformation since stepping down.  Witty and relaxed, he returned to his old form.  Two video tributes showed just how much we owe Gordon, especially as the longest serving and most radical Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Harriet will, fortunately, still be with us as our elected Deputy Leader.

 What is so important now that we all pull together for a Labour victory.  Ed and the soon to be elected Shadow Cabinet, not to mention Labour MEPs, can now get on with the job of defeating the Coalition and returning Labour to government.