AP Photo

FORMER CHANCELLOR of the exchequer Alistair Darling could be seen on Monday heading back to his office in the House of Commons with a sandwich in hand – trying, with difficulty, to hold two precariously balanced coffees.

The image could be used to illustrate Labour’s own difficulties, as it seeks to discover what it should, can, or wants to hold on to from the days of New Labour under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Some spillages are inevitable.