Martin Bright

Ed Miliband: my two penn’orth

It seems that everyone is offering Ed Miliband advice. Jonathan Freedland wrote him an alternative leader’s speech. Matthew D’Ancona urged Miliband to answer his own fundamental question: “What is the point of a Left-of-centre Labour leader with an empty wallet?” And Owen Jones urges the Labour leader to find a vision.

It would be understandable if Ed Miliband was beginning to get more than a tad exasperated with all this advice. His party is united, he is ahead in the polls and his opponents are in disarray. He has already survived longer than many sage heads believed he could and is now the man most likely to be the next prime minister. The electorate may not be convinced by him as a charismatic personality but he should console himself with the fact that it is not necessary to be charismatic to win an election, as Edward Heath and John Major demonstrated.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in