JUST when Ed Miliband thought he might be able to seize the initiative after a terrible week, up pops his good comrade Len McCluskey to declare he has no trust in Labour HQ and to demand an independent inquiry into the Falkirk debacle.

After a terribly bruising PMQs this week when Labour backbenchers had to bite their lips amid the Cameron onslaught, Mr Miliband was determined to take some decisive action.

Wounded by the Prime Minister's charge that he was "weak, weak, weak", the Labour leader sought to make a determined move 24 hours later.

So, according to sources, Tom Watson was resigned as election co-ordinator. His aide and the Unite candidate in Falkirk, Karie Murphy, was suspended – meaning she is disbarred from taking part in the Falkirk selection – as was Stephen Deans, chairman of Falkirk CLP.

Mr Miliband also ended the discredited practice of allowing unions to sign up en masse their members into the Labour Party, which was at the nub of the allegations that Unite flooded Falkirk to get Ms Murphy selected as the CLP's election candidate.

While it is said that one of Mr Miliband's triumphs has been the elimination of the debilitating Blairite/Brownite rivalry, there is an intriguing TBGB aspect to the Falkirk row.

Mr Watson, a chum of Gordon Brown, who famously was part of the get rid of Tony brigade back in 2006, has Ms Murphy as an aide. Mr Watson once shared a flat with Mr McCluskey, who is said to be a good friend of Ms Murphy. Mr Deans, who is also suspended, chairs Unite in Scotland.

One of the original candidates in the Falkirk race was Gregor Poynton, husband of MP Gemma Doyle, who is in the shadow defence team of Jim Murphy, a leading Blairite in Mr Miliband's team. Mr Murphy has been the only Shadow Cabinet member to put his head above the parapet this week to criticise Unite's tactics in Falkirk, saying they overstepped the mark. Mr Miliband had a chance to get rid of Mr Watson from his frontline team on Tuesday.

Presumably, the West Bromwich MP wanted to go, knowing the next day's PMQs would be bad for his leader. But Mr Miliband hung onto him. Why? Comradeliness or weakness?

Meantime, the Tories are loving it. One Conservative backbencher beamed that the party had a new secret weapon: Len McCluskey.