Top News

Some Labour MPs claim that Ed Miliband is really running the government. I didn't believe them - until now. Sir Keir Starmer let the cat out of the bag in Parliament this week. He revealed that Red Ed, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, is calling the shots. And that helps to explain why this Labour government is such a disaster. There's still a lot of anger with Ed among Labour MPs, following his calamitous period as Labour leader between 2010 and 2015.

He shamelessly led his party to the left, attacking businesses and opposing efforts to get public spending under control. Mr Miliband seemed to think this would make him Prime Minister, but in fact it led to a Tory victory in the 2015 general election. Many Labour MPs also blame Mr Miliband for Jeremy Corbyn becoming leader of their party following that election loss, ushering in what they see as Labour's darkest period.

So it was tempting to be a bit sceptical when they insisted Ed Miliband was responsible for the problems facing this Labour government. They're not exactly impartial. And surely, the Prime Minister is the one in charge?

But Sir Keir has always been a Miliband fan. Ed helped him become a Labour candidate many years ago, which is how the Prime Minister became an MP in the first place.

And in Parliament this week, the Prime Minister admitted that it's actually Ed Miliband who makes the decisions.

He was asked by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch whether the Government would approve Rosebank and Jackdaw, two oil and gas fields in the North Sea

Mrs Badenoch said: "The Jackdaw gasfield could be up and running before winter. All that gas would be used here in the UK to heat 1.6 million homes. That is enough to power Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex put together."

But Sir Keir insisted it was nothing to do with him. He told MPs: "That is a matter for the Secretary of State" - meaning Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.

Every time Mrs Badenoch tried to get an answer, he repeated the same claim. Sir Keir insisted: "The legislation sets out who the decision maker is: it is the Secretary of State, not the Prime Minister."

He's right that legislation states the Energy Secretary makes decisions. This is very common in the UK system of government. There are laws saying the Health Secretary makes decisions about hospitals and Education Secretary makes decisions about schools.

But the reality, usually, is rather different. Because the Prime Minister is the boss. He hires and fires his Cabinet colleagues. Number 10 can, and does, tell a Secretary of State to think again, if they have ideas the Prime Minister doesn't like.

Not with Mr Miliband, however. It seems that in Ed's case, the tail is wagging the dog.

And this explains a lot about the state of our country.

It explains why UK businesses remain crippled by sky-high energy bills paying far more than competitors in the US or similar EU nations, with no real effort being made to cut costs.

Why we import so much oil and gas from other countries, particularly Norway, as if it somehow does less damage to the environment when we don't drill it ourselves.

And why industry leaders say 1,000 jobs in the North Sea are being lost every month.

Voters rejected Ed Miliband in the 2015 general election, but somehow we've ended up him running the country anyway.