Star comment - No brotherly love for the Milibands
Labour is ahead in the polls. But not by that much. Instead of being something to celebrate, that lame poll lead hangs like a cloud over Ed Miliband’s leadership.
He should be romping ahead, scoring points at will and cashing in on David Cameron’s misfortunes, regular policy U-turns and inactivity.
That is the problem for Labour and for Mr Miliband – that he, the party leader, is the problem and not the solution.
In the House of Commons, he is largely ineffective and cannot think on his feet. In policy-making and direction, his is an unsure touch. In public image, there is, to put it mildly, room for improvement.
Invoking his comprehensive school roots in his big conference speech today smacks of a desperate attempt to portray himself as one of us, one of the ordinary people of Britain, as opposed to the posh political elite which has occupied all the high offices in the current generation.
Were there a credible leader in the wings, the knives would be glistening behind Mr Miliband’s back.
He is lucky that there is no obvious candidate. Ed Balls continues to put off voters and is tainted by his deep association with Labour’s failures in office. Andy Burnham comes across as a meek boy in a man’s world. Harriet Harman is not only yesterday’s woman but voter poison with her right-on credentials which do not go down well with the folk of middle England.
There is another name in the wings. He has experience and proven capability. He has many admirers both in the Parliamentary party and at grass roots level.
His name is Miliband. David Miliband. And he has served his term in exile.
In the battle of the Miliband brothers, Ed moved a point ahead by becoming Labour leader.
Unless Ed sharpens up his act, do not rule out Dave getting even.
Comments for: "Star comment - No brotherly love for the Milibands"
Roger
What a strange comment on Ed Miliband’s performance today. Sounds like a die hard Tory trying to stir things up. David Miliband was in my view the best candidate at the time of the poll but he lost. As a pragmatic sensible guy he accepted the outcome, and knowing that there were plenty of Tories out there who would like to stir the pot, stood back to give his brother a clear chance to live up to the confidence his election had proved. David has not gone into hiding or stopped being an active politician, he has just been clever enough not to give the enemy the opportunity of causing a division.
I thought Ed did good today. He has matured over the last two years and is now articulating his party’s view well. His ideas are certainly better than the mob in charge at the moment and we know that David Cameron will tell any lie to get elected but, most important, this mob are incompetent. The only remaining question is can we trust Labour to do as Ed said.
The same question that we have to ask ourselves every time we vote, be that local or general elections. The only information we have to inform our decision that can be relied upon is the track record of the Tories both locally and Nationally. So the next government will not be a Tory majority. What it actually will be is a matter on conjecture based on how much worse it gets in the next two years.
Bill
Whilst Ed may be coming up with the right words to rally the wider Labour faithful his problems stem from two things - his confrontation with the unions over pay restraint (when it was their vote which got him in) and the cynicism of most of the Labour leadership and party management who know his brother would have been the better choice politically and a much more effective communicator. And with David in charge the 'Brownites', including Ed Balls, would have been nowhere near the front bench.
You sense that even if Ed wanted to be 'red' and take a more left-leaning line, the only firm support he is getting is from Ed Balls and Mrs Balls (Yvette Cooper). He is being restrained and corralled by the Labour shadow cabinet, who in general are relieved that bully Brown is out of the picture (and admitting he wasn't up to the job anyway).
You also sense an imminent Labour internal row - probably over either the pay restraint issue or the detailed implementation of Universal Credit - which will see shadow ministers having to publicly take sides or try frantically to paper over the cracks. The timing of that hitting the mass media will be what in the end determines the credibility of one or other Miliband when 2015 comes.
It's also only to be hoped that by 2015 it will finally have sunk in with the 'swing' voters that going back to the policies which created their hardship is not the solution. It will be those voters that determine the outcome, not hardcore left and right idealists.
Peter
Except that it wasn't the policies of the previous Labour administration that created the debt and hardship - it was a global recession, which has affected a great number of countries - regardless of the poliitics of their governments at the time. Follow that with austerity to protect the wealthy and for most we have hardship.
In fact, up to the point of the recession, Labour had a smaller debt to GDP ration than that inherited from the previous Tory administration, and following the recession, they actually had the country back in growth. Yes - they spent money - but they spent it on good things, such as schools and hospitals, rather than on creating and maintaining high levels of unemployment (doubtless a price worth paying, just as they said back in the '80s) and on tax cuts for the wealthiest.
There's no credible evidence that a Tory administration would have weathere the recession any better. Their approach to the banks would have been to have had an even lighter touch in terms of regulation. Since they came to power they've treated the financial sector with kid gloves; hardly surprising since the financial sector provides more than 50% of Tory funding.
As far as the Star's comment is concerned, they're a Tory-supporting paper, so I wouldn't really expect anything but carping from them. However, the leader writer might have been more sensible to wait until after yesterday's speech - even the national tabloids, Tory papers amongst them, seem to acknowledge it was a strong performance, and that any initial doubts about Ed Milliband have faded significantly.
pete
Immigration, social exclusion, sats fiasco, lower educational standards,liberalised drug use, anti-smoking, anti fox hunting, bailed out bankers, wounded soldiers, expansive EU lending and increased rights for criminals before we even consider the lies, rememeber these slogans? Weapons of mass destruction , no more boom and bust, prudent financial management ,social fairness immigration good for Britian. To trust is to believe someone is honest and means no harm , I will never vote Labour again.