Miliband speaks to the common people

Ed Miliband stands accused of many faults, but he rarely slips an opportunity to be opportunistic. James has said that the error and arrogance of the banking establishment, epitomised by the LIBOR and mis-selling scandals, allows Miliband to pose as a ‘tribune of the people’. And so it has come to pass. Miliband has today addressed the Fabian Society – a generous audience for him to be sure, but a suitably humble platform for him nonetheless. 

He received a sort of reverse show trial: a lot of predictable questions to which he gave answers of breath-taking predictability. But that is their strength. Tony Parsons has a piece in today’s Mirror in which he argues that Miliband is beginning to sound prime ministerial. I could not say what prime ministers sound like as a rule; but there was an empathetic note to Miliband’s usually adenoidal tones this afternoon. And empathy is of huge value.