Friday, January 27, 2012
With friends like these...
Having gone through a particularly rough patch as leader of the Labour Party earlier this year, the last thing that Ed Miliband needs now is more criticism, especially when it comes from former allies. However, as today's Telegraph outlines, that is precisely what he has got.
The paper says that Peter Mandelson, the former business secretary and one of the most powerful party figures of the last 15 years, has said Mr Miliband is “struggling” to stamp his identity on the Labour Party and failing to distinguish himself from the last Labour government.
This comes on top of criticism that Mr. Miliband lacks the skills and public appeal to become a credible prime minister amid disquiet inside his own ranks.
The paper says that a series of poor opinion polls recently have seen Labour’s lead evaporate, while senior party figures admit that winning the 2015 election will be difficult.
One survey this week suggested that David Cameron was significantly more popular among the public than Mr Miliband, despite concerns that Britain is slipping back into recession. In fact, even Nick Clegg is perceived to be doing a better job than the Labour leader in some polls.
Given the peer's other remarks it is possible that Labour may be fairly relaxed avout his criticism of the Labour leader:
Lord Mandelson had easy praise, however, for his successors at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), saying he was “very proud and pleased” with the work that Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, and David Willetts, the Universities Minister, have been doing.
And he disclosed that he no longer believed politicians should be intensely “relaxed” about entrepreneurs becoming “filthy rich”, as he once claimed while Trade and Industry Secretary in 1998.
“That was a rather spontaneous, unthought-of remark,” he said. “I don’t think I would say that now. We have seen that globalisation has not generated the rising incomes for all.”
No wonder Labour never really embraced the former Hartlepool MP as one of their own.
The paper says that Peter Mandelson, the former business secretary and one of the most powerful party figures of the last 15 years, has said Mr Miliband is “struggling” to stamp his identity on the Labour Party and failing to distinguish himself from the last Labour government.
This comes on top of criticism that Mr. Miliband lacks the skills and public appeal to become a credible prime minister amid disquiet inside his own ranks.
The paper says that a series of poor opinion polls recently have seen Labour’s lead evaporate, while senior party figures admit that winning the 2015 election will be difficult.
One survey this week suggested that David Cameron was significantly more popular among the public than Mr Miliband, despite concerns that Britain is slipping back into recession. In fact, even Nick Clegg is perceived to be doing a better job than the Labour leader in some polls.
Given the peer's other remarks it is possible that Labour may be fairly relaxed avout his criticism of the Labour leader:
Lord Mandelson had easy praise, however, for his successors at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), saying he was “very proud and pleased” with the work that Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, and David Willetts, the Universities Minister, have been doing.
And he disclosed that he no longer believed politicians should be intensely “relaxed” about entrepreneurs becoming “filthy rich”, as he once claimed while Trade and Industry Secretary in 1998.
“That was a rather spontaneous, unthought-of remark,” he said. “I don’t think I would say that now. We have seen that globalisation has not generated the rising incomes for all.”
No wonder Labour never really embraced the former Hartlepool MP as one of their own.
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During the week when criticism of Ed Miliband first dominated the media, both press and broadcast, Labour won two by-elections in principal local authorities. Their spin machine made nothing of this, which suggests to me that even the Labour staff are against him.
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