Handing responsibility for the economy to a man who was director of policy for Ed Miliband is a sign of desperation from Rachel Reeves, says Eliot Wilson

Every time I see a new announcement from Rachel Reeves at the Treasury now, it puts me in mind of the poet Stevie Smith:

“I was much further out that you thought

And not waving but drowning.”

As the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s second Budget creeps closer, we were briefed last week that Reeves had reshuffled her “top team” and was now looking to her most junior minister, parliamentary secretary Torsten Bell. In the words of The Times, the MP for Swansea West had “been handed responsibility for economic policy”, which must surely be a slight exaggeration, and the Chancellor “will hope Bell can help her recover from a bruising first year in office, where she has struggled to grow the economy”.

This is a significant moment for Bell, 42, who was only elected to the House of Commons last July. He was made a parliamentary private secretary – those humble but invaluable carriers of ministerial bags – as soon as the new........

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