Labour has elected its leader for the first time in 16 years. If the interval feels somehow shorter, it is because competition for the top job hardly ceased, even though no ballot was held.

Gordon Brown agitated constantly against Tony Blair. His own reign was then punctuated with plots and coups.
The last Labour government descended into unseemly political soap opera before crashing, disunited, out of office. The party will have to present a more dignified spectacle to the public if it is ever to be released from opposition.
That task will be made harder by the complex electoral arithmetic that means Ed Miliband owes his victory substantially to support from the trade unions. Being preferred by the unions does not necessarily mean the new leader will take policy dictation from them, but Miliband must quickly establish an account of how the relationship will work. He must address the grievances of organized labour in a way that also resonates with a much wider audience. It is a goal that has generally eluded Labour leaders since the 1970s.
Another reason Miliband's enemies color him red has been his willingness to criticise Britain's model of high-octane, laissez-faire capitalism. He campaigned on the need for a less volatile, less ruthless system, one in which the power of the market is harnessed more firmly to the goals of social equity and a fairer distribution of wealth.
Miliband should go further. Having won the leadership on terms that gave comfort to the party's core support, he must show he is capable also of challenging its preconceptions and checking its tendency to ideological complacency. That does not mean needlessly antagonizing his union supporters with postures aimed at appealing to conservatives. An air of principled authenticity is his greatest asset.
But he will at some stage have to tell his party things it doesn't want to hear. Restoring Labour's reputation for economic competence depends on the leader proving he is able to make difficult choices. The facts of this parliamentary term are that budget conditions are tight, the United Kingdom can no longer rely on revenue from the financial services industry to fund public services, nor an endless supply of easy credit to satisfy consumer appetites.
The country has already embarked on the path to a different kind of economy. The coalition has a clearly defined approach to how that transition should be handled. Labour does not. The millions of voters who rejected the party in May are unlikely to pay serious attention until that changes.
Ed Miliband won the Labour leadership with a powerful critique of the old economy, the one that led us into financial crisis. He now needs a plausible account of the new economy Labour would build in its place. And this time he must sell it not just to Labour members, but to an altogether more skeptical audience.
(The Observer)
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