While Ed may be pleased with Unite’s outburst, it puts another leading Labour figure in a rather tricky spot. What’s Ken going to do?

On the one hand he has the unions who are bankrolling his campaign and on the other he has his party leader and machine. His track record is hardly one of party loyalty, but Ed desperately needs a victory in May so the party machine is devoting a lot of resources to the effort. It’s worth remembering that Ken backed Balls for the leadership. Will he still have such kind words for Blinky, now that, as Unite say, he is one of the “four horsemen of the austerity apocalypse“. One to watch in the run up to May…