It’s on

I’ve just been watching the Miliband press conference on TV and it is clear that Miliband isn’t going to back down. He didn’t actually declare he was standing for the leadership but he turned down countless opportunities to rule himself out. Typical of Miliband’s approach was that when he was asked if the Labour party would be mad to change leader before the next election, he jokingly replied that as a loyal Labour member he would say that the Labour party does anything mad. Miliband had clearly not been scared off by the assault on him in The Evening Standard by anonymous Brownite sources.

The Sunday papers are becoming ever more critical. If Miliband gets through them unscathed, then the Miliband bandwagon will begin to gain momentum and the other possible leadership contenders will feel obliged to move or risk getting left behind.