Ed Miliband’s appointment of the former Times hack Tom Baldwin has sent ripples through the stagnant Labour pond, the Alastair Campbell protege is supposed to bring substance to a weak team and perk up Ed’s image However Labour backbenchers have been left slightly confused by the employment of a controversial Murdoch man, blunting the sustained attacks upon Coulson. Further to that, it’s going to be tough for Red Ed to deploy class based attacks, as he so savoured at last week’s PMQs, given Baldwin’s heiress wife has the nickname “Just Sixteen”, given that was her response when asked how many million she had just inherited…

Another thing that isn’t going to go down well is the rumours of Baldwin’s former closeness to Dave. Roughly contemporaries at Oxford, it is said they both shared their “normal university experience” and their friendship bloomed though the lively world of PR and journalism when the young Dave was working long hours spinning for Carlton. Baldwin and Steve Hilton remain firm friends.

If it’s true that Bad Al Campbell put Baldwin up to the job, it’s going to be a hard sell for Ed to his backbenchers, who didn’t vote for him in the first place and claim to want an end to the dark days of New Labour spin…