James Forsyth James Forsyth

Mother Miliband isn’t voting for Diane Abbott

Judging by today’s papers, the idea that David and Ed Miliband’s mother is voting for Diane Abbott has entered into the political consciousness. But it isn’t true. When Ed Miliband said that his mum wasn’t voting for him or David and was instead backing Abbott, he was joking. As he explained to me the other day:

“For the record, my mother isn’t voting for Diane Abbott, that’s another joke, an ill judged joke that I made.  I actually went on holiday, shut off my phone and a couple of days later I discovered that I’d spawned a whole series of stories saying the definitive view is that she is voting for Diane Abbott.  It was a light hearted remark.”

The most credible theory I’ve heard on mother Miliband’s voting intentions, is that she has more than one vote in the contest and so she’ll be able to put both her sons down as her first preference.

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