Ed Miliband’s Delusions

Perhaps I’m being a little unfair on Ed Miliband but, no, I don’t think I am. Perhaps he’s not in denial. There again, he gives every impression of being a man who still doesn’t understand why Labour lost the last election.

Every so often there’ll be a nod to the notion that government spending cannot increase by several points above inflation every year but this is lost in the candyfloss of reassurance he serves (not sells, obviously) to Labour’s most devoted supporters. The occasional aside that some spending restraint or retrenchment might be necessary seems dutiful; the thrust of speeches suggests his heart lies elsewhere.

That’s fine. It’s not an illegitimate view. But nor is it persuasive. Bagehot has a magnificent post reporting from something called Labour’s “People’s Policy Forum” in Nottingham. It does not sound as though it was an encouraging event:

For hour after hour, in policy session after policy session, Mr Miliband and his shadow ministerial team were bombarded with angry, self-righteous demands for Labour to wave a magic wand and make the cuts go away.

Denial does not begin to cover the mood in Nottingham.