Ed Miliband pitches at change

Obviously, the Labour party must change and make a clean break with the era of Blair and Brown. I have my doubts if any of these candidates, other than incredible Diane Abbott, can escape the politics that moulded them. None have said anything substantively new. They are not wedded to the past; they pine for it.

Today, however, Ed Miliband has suggested that he would break from New Labour. He has written an article for the Mirror, arguing that he would keep the 50 percent tax rate. His analysis is:

‘There is something wrong with a society where nurses earn less in a year than bankers – whose botched deals caused the credit crunch – pay themselves every week. It would take a low paid worker at a top company 80 years to earn what their boss makes in a single year in the boardroom.’

This is a clear break with the Blairite past, and one that, whilst flirting with ‘progressive’ politics, incites class antagonisms.