So after the leadership result was announced there was, inevitably and understandably, some grumbling around conference about the manner in which Ed had won. You might expect a former leader to throw oil on these mildly troubled waters, and suggest that everyone calms down. But instead, what we got were the snarls of a kind of Welsh Tony Soprano:
"We'll track the bastards down," swore an exasperated Neil Kinnock, found patrolling the hotel foyers incensed that dissent had broken out yet again less than 48 hours into a new leadership. "And we'll stamp on them." One of the briefers had described the result as a "gothic tragedy", and Kinnock's eyes gleamed as he seized on the clue. "I'll be looking and listening out for someone who likes to use the word 'gothic'," he said, rolling the word over his tongue thoughtfully like a detective, as if the culprit could be conjured from the syllables right there and then.
As I say, Ed Miliband may not appreciate the impression that his chief cheerleader and enforcer is Neil Kinnock, even though I'm sure Kinnock counts (somehow) as a member of "the new generation".
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