Ed Miliband's backhanded offer to the Lib Dems
Peter Hoskin 2:45pm
As Channel 4 reminds us, there have been two major trends in recent opinion polls. First, the precipitous
decline in the Lib Dem vote share. And, second, a solidification of the Labour position, such that some polls even have them as the biggest party in a hung parliament. Predictably, this has
stirred the omnipresent Simon Hughes, and some other folk around Westminster, into talking about a LibLab
coalition.
Which is why Ed Miliband's comments in the New Statesman today are so eyecatching. He tells Jason Cowley and Mehdi Hasan that he couldn't go into the coalition with the Lib Dems if they were led by Nick Clegg. He's got problems with "what [Clegg] is supporting," you understand.
This is a new approach from one of the Labour leadership candidates. Until now, they've all tended to treat Lib Dems as a single mass – and a mass that deserves a good shoeing. But, here, Miliband explicitly recognises the party's internal divides. The clear implication is that Nick Clegg is too Tory for his, or Labour's, tastes* – and that he could do business with someone who leans more to the left. Stand up Vince Cable, or Mr Hughes, perhaps?
I'm not sure whether this is smart or dumb politics from Miliband. Sure, it shows that he is willing to engage with the Lib Dems on some level, and could it sabotage Lib Dem internal relations. But he's also setting the bar for a LibLab coalition quite high – after all, deposing a party leader is never the smoothest, nor most predictable, of processes. Besides, on the back of an election defeat, perhaps Labour shouldn't be dictating the terms of negotiation quite yet.
* A message which could be reinforced by, erm, today's Spectator leader praising the Lib Dem leader.
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charles hercock
August 19th, 2010 3:21pm Report this commentAfraid this shows Milliband minor does not inhabit the real world.Nick Clegg is the only star the Lib Dems have>Whoever heard of woofta Hughes
Tarka the Rotter
August 19th, 2010 3:22pm Report this commentI for one would love to give Ed Milly-Molly-Mandy a backhand...
Jannie Geldenhuys
August 19th, 2010 4:10pm Report this commentClegg (rightly) demanded Brown's head on a plate.
Even the Blairites were outraged by Clegg's impudence (a LibDem being even worse than a Brownite).
No great surprise that Labour sees the price of any future Lib/Lab deal to be a quid pro quo from the Lib Dems.
But a whole lot of stars are going to have to be in alignment for such a situation to materialise.
Milipede Minor is getting ahead of himself having been over-excited by Simon Hughes showing a bit of leg earlier in the week.
A more likely event is that Hughes just joins the Labour Party.
alexsandr
August 19th, 2010 4:31pm Report this commentor the limp dems split into liberals and SDP
TrevorsDen
August 19th, 2010 4:31pm Report this commentPretty dumb from labour - they were too scared to change their own leader but demand another party changes theirs. Just how independent would a LD party be which had had its leader dictated by another party?
Its just placed the LDs ever more into the Tory camp. The polls show that the lefty loons in the LDs have already gone to labour so there is now the chance for the LDs to be a more focused political party.
Chris lancashire
August 19th, 2010 5:55pm Report this commentMilliband Junior has rushed up to Glasgow for the funeral of Communist Jimmy Reid. Pathetic.
Tarka the Rotter
August 19th, 2010 6:18pm Report this comment@Chris Lancashire - I think the key word linking the two there is 'communist' - however, I do hope the wake-organisers have read the Labour Party instructions for holding a social event for David Miliband...
normanc
August 19th, 2010 7:12pm Report this commentThe problem with coalitions in a 3 party state is that there is only one partner to woo. The coalition is still enjoying some measure of popularity, consensus politics still quite a novel thing for most of us.
What would you want a Labour leader to say? That they'd never into a coalition, win or bust?
Labour have 5 more years of fun ahead of them, playing to the Lib Dem left by attacking certain policies as too right-wing, and they may even back some Lib Dem initiatives in the future (a long shot I know) as sound socialist ideas to needle the Tory right.
Man in a Shed
August 19th, 2010 11:16pm Report this commentMiliband junior is a paid up member of the Brown cabal. Clegg forced Brown from office hence the Brownies want revenge. This is the level.of their politics.
Jane
August 20th, 2010 2:19am Report this commentWe need to back up here. Ed hasn't won the leadership contest, there's five years to go before the next election and, in that time, Labour needs to prove that it can govern. Ed is getting way ahead of himself.
AndyLeeds
August 20th, 2010 9:00am Report this commentThe LibDems will probably end up splitting. Cable, Hughes etc are basically Labour Party members, so let them sod off to where they belong.
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