Politics

There is a feeling on the right that with the election of Ed Miliband it is back to the good old days. The thinking goes that Labour have elected a lefty as leader and it is time “to do ‘em over just like we did back in the day”. But this is overly-simplistic. First of all, Ed Miliband is certainly to the left of Tony Blair but he’s nowhere near as far left, compared to the public, as Michael Foot or Tony Benn, or anyone like that. Second, the right in the ‘80s had three fronts on which to attack left-wing politicians: economics, culture and national defence. Now, it only

There’s an odd mood in Manchester at the moment. The leadership election result has discombobulated the Labour establishment. In some circles, there is irritation that union votes delivered the leadership to Ed Miliband against the wishes of the MPs and party members. Others worry that this has all come too soon for Ed Miliband, that – in the words of one senior member of the last government – “he still doesn’t know what he thinks”. While others are still getting their heads round the family dynamic. It was striking that when people arrived in the conference hotel bar from the Ed Miliband victory party they were not mobbed. But Ed

The scrubbing job starts in earnest this morning, as Ed Miliband tries to erase that “Red” epithet from before his name. Exhibit A was his appearance on the Andrew Marr show, in which he took every opportunity to cast the manner of his victory in a favourable light. “If you look at this as one vote-one member, then I got more votes than anyone else,” he assured us, before going on to say that he won the union vote because, “I spoke about things that matter to working people in this country.” When asked whether he would sway under pressure from the union leadership, he averred, “I’m nobody’s man, I’m

We spend a lot of time criticising politicians so it behoves us to praise one when they behave with as much dignity as David Miliband has today. He has lost the Labour leadership election by the narrowest of margins and despite winning among both party members and MPs, but there has not been even a hint of bitterness or irriation in his behaviour. After the result, David addressed his team, telling them to rally around his brother. He told them their job was to ensure that Labour keeps the pressure on the coalition through the comprehensive spending review. Right now, David Miliband is touring the conference hotel, talking to conference

As soon as the first round result popped up the screen, an expert on the Labour electoral college turned to me and said ‘Ed has won’. David was not far enough ahead on first preferences to win. But it was also clear that David was likely to win MPs and members — that Ed was going to win thanks to the union vote. Now, the union vote is no longer a bloc vote. But in terms of legitimacy it is widely perceived to trail the members and MPs sections. The nature of his victory will make Ed Miliband’s task harder over the next few weeks, the Red Ed tag is

I knew that David Miliband had lost the moment I saw him walk in the room, smiling like Michael Portillo on election night 1997. And when I saw Ed Balls look of pure murder: his enemy had won. Time to destroy. We saw a tension in this result: the MPs and members leaned towards David, who had a tough message on the deficit, who defended the Iraq war, who basically had an agenda for government. Whereas Ed Miliband’s agenda is for opposition: he’ll be marching alongside the unions the day before Osborne’s spending review. As I say in the News of the World tomorrow, Ed will ooze left wing morals