The problem with Ed Miliband’s World at One interview was that he addressed Martha Kearney as if she was a public meeting. Whenever she asked him a difficult question, he just spoke louder. At one point, he barked at her ‘you don’t understand’.
It was an oddly charmless performance from a man who, in private, can be thoroughly charming. He might just have got away with it against a hectoring interviewer on the Today Programme. But in response to Martha Kearney’s calm, well reasoned questioning, it just seemed rude.
The content was also odd. At one point, Miliband implied that a VAT cut would pay for itself — an extreme Lafferite position. It was a sign of just how much Labour doesn’t want to admit that it would increase borrowing, even if only for the short term.
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