Shadow cabinet

The Parliamentary Labour Party uses the Alternative Vote (AV) system - which it opposes for national elections - to elect a leader as well as the 19 members of the shadow cabinet in addition to the six members ex officio.

The ex officio members are the Party Leader Ed Miliband, Deputy Leader Harriet Harperson, Commons Whip Rosie Winterton, PLP Chairman Tony Lloyd, Lords Leader Baroness Royall and Lords Whip Lord Bassam.

Each ballot had to list six men and six women. Results here. Including the ex officio members:

• All held office in the Brown regime
• 13 of 25 went to selective schools
• 9 went to Oxbridge, 6 read PPE at Oxford
• Only one ethnic minority member - Sadiq Khan, Ed Miliband's campaign manager
• Only one non-hetero - Angela Eagle
• Only 5 of the 19 elected (Denham, Benn, Khan, McKechin and Maria Eagle) backed Ed Miliband
• The top two elected ahead of Ed Balls were his wife and strongest supporter 
• 11 women is close to the guaranteed 50% demanded by Harriet H and rejected by the PLP.

Not too difficult to read the tea leaves. The majority of state employees are women, and Balls is adamantly opposed to any reduction in the size and cost of the bloated state apparat he and Brown created. Perhaps Balls knew that his name and bug-eyed presence alone prevented him from becoming the leader, and lobbied his supporters to make himself the power behind the throne.

Maybe so. Myself, I would not bet on the loyalty of the missus in such a situation. 

P.S. Ed Mil has brought in the millionaire Tory convert Shaun Woodward for Northern Ireland and the Liberal convert Peter Hain for Wales. Yvette B gets the FCO, Ed B gets the Home Office, his mucker Healey gets Health. Elders Johnson, Jowell, Benn and Denham to be Shadow Chancellor, Olympics (!), Leader of the Commons and Business, Innovation and Skills respectively.