Miliband needs coaching

When David Miliband’s team get together this afternoon to talk through his performance on the Jeremy Vine show, I hope they realise they’ve got to do something about his voice. There’s the embarrassing ‘mockney’ accent (not shared by brother Ed). And worse — his recent attempt to widen his appeal and stop dropping his t’s: “Grea’, sorry I mean GreaT” “Vo’ers, I mean voTers”.

Then there’s the fact that DM’s attempts at a Blairish matey-ness end up sounding not just patronising, but slightly psychotic. It’s as if he’s convinced we’re all brain-dead cretins, so he’s putting on his special slow, patient voice in the hope that it helps us get the point: “If you bother to think about it, it’s really quite simple, Terry.”

Can Mr “I can” learn to disguise his contempt for the people he hopes to lead?