The dark fairy’s magic wand…broken at last

The man who told us all “I’m not a quitter” has thrown in the Turkish-bath towel within days of the LibLab power talks failing…and the winds of change blowing him off-course in the increasingly left-steering Labour Party. The Sun’s headline this morning – ‘Mand Overboard’ – wasn’t one of its better efforts; but it does sum up just how little Lord Mandelson is wanted on the new voyage of discovery upon which Labour is embarking.

It’s a new voyage towards a different Labour Party which, as we all know now, isn’t going to be called New any more, on account of it representing secondhand shop-soiled goods. But in a highly related move, LibDem-leaning Lord Adonis has also walked the plank towards new challenges.

This can only mean one thing: the Balls/Harman/Whelan/Unite axis of Evil is to replace the Knitting Circle of Darkness. So watch your back there, Ben Bradshaw.

And of course it’s very bad news for Wayne Miliband, the last remaining remnant of what was New and now dare not speak its name. You read it here first.

If the Labour ranks have any sense, they will now vote for the softer, more electable of the two Leftie alternatives – Ed Miliband. So a barnstorming Balls victory is assured.