Cameron: I fear David Miliband most

Rhoda Klapp

Is 'well-liked by the Foreign Office' meant to be some sort of a recommendation?

Just because I've given up complaining about the banality of posts lately does not mean the situation has improved. It really is terrible, and people are beginning to notice.

Osred

No wonder he fears Milliband D. Its going to be the work of a genius or brilliant charlatan (like Blair T) to pretend there's more than about 3% difference in their political DNA.

David Morris

The source of the quote isn't named and we don't know what caused that conversation to happen. It's also not going to be a view held by everyone.

If David Miliband isn't not great when communicating with the public, how is he going to be feared? He'd probably be poor on a regular basis in PMQs too.

Richard of York

this is boring..why isn't the Speccie delving into the claims Hague might be Gay, has a young lover and had a long-term affair with a well known journalist turned blogger.
check out Guido and the telegraph.

Sunder Katwala

It is a very strange story, since the Conservative Party would hardly go out of their way to give quotes to the Guardian - read by most Labour members - to stand up a story which would boost the candidate they genuinely feared most.

It would surely be in a government's interest to brief the opposite of its true view, if it could credibly do so.

Another possibility is that is could reflect a view less about the merits of the candidates than the outcome, ie a hunch that David M is less likely to win than the betting has it.

alexsandr

dork
why does it matter if hague is gay or not?
I thiught your lot believed in no discrimination on grounds of sexuality.
fecking hypocrites!

John Bracewell

It really is silly season.
Why should anyone fear any of them?
Is this a PR bluff to somehow confirm/sway the vote? Why would Cameron even care?

David Blackburn

Sunder Katwala,

Interesting point but I doubt the Tories are briefing the Guardian. There's plenty of chatter in Tory circles about the leadership election and they all say the same thing: David Miliband is the best of the bad bunch because he's the most like Blair.

Chuck Unsworth

@ RoY

Don't like it? Sod off, then.

Anon

Rubbish. No one in the Westminster party really fears any of the Labour Leadership contenders. Miliband Snr has all the communicative ability of a banana. If anything, the only one who is at all effective at attacking the Govt is Ed Balls, but he is so repulsive and bullying that he couldn't be sold to the public. Plus he is way to close to the former ruling Brownite clique. As Mr Katwala points out above, no sources are named, so if anything this is probably just the Grauniad pushing their preferred candidate with a non-story.

bernerlap

I would have though that the Tory high command would be salivating at the thought of Mili Major being Labour Leader.
It is highly likely that it will be discovered he was complicit in torture. It may well be the shortest Labour leadership in history.

Holly

What a load of rubbish!
Do you lot make this bilge up cos you're all clueless?
DC has just become PM,hit the ground running,been on holiday AND become a dad again.
Why would he be even thinking of Labour bods never mind fearing them.

HJ

David Cameron's admiration of D Miliband is hardly a new revelation.

This is what Cameron wrote in the Guardian, in one of his diary pieces, on July 18th 2002:

"...the rising star prize has to go to the infuriatingly competent David Miliband, propelled from the backbenches and into government in less than a year by his appointment as schools minister.

Following the laming of Lammy, I went to see Mr Miliband during the report stage of the education bill, hoping for more blood. I am sad to report that he was excellent - slapping the dispatch box to emphasise his points like an old-timer and handling questions, interruptions and barracking with ease and skill. Damn him."

strapworld

Well, if Hague is the Minister who is going to sue, then Richard of York will be on the list!! Do not fool yourself that you cannot be identified!

Goodness, would it not be glorious to see Dicky of York gutted in the High Court!

Chuck Unsworth

In the absence of any credible reference to known sources it would be wise to assume that 'journalist' Nick Watt is in fact an author of light fiction.

Richard of York

@Chuckie boy
everytime I get under your skin makes me feel all warm and cozy inside.....yum!

Marcher Baron

"an 'affable and intelligent minister in a government of berks'." Says it all really!

TrevorsDen

You feking hypocrite Dickhead of York.

I sincerely hope your post is removed and just o you know i am going top complain formally about it.

You are an obnoxious ignorant little shite.

The Speccy do not quote rumours like this any more than they quoted rumours about Mandelson in Rio.

canonalberic

Sounds like a classic bluff to me. David Milliband is unelectable - a wierd, arrogant coward who is moreover completely lacking in the nec plus ultra - charisma.

The globally warmed Ed is at least by labours present standards a very able politician. Balls of course would be the one they really wouldnt like to have he may be widely hated (but who knows the electorate are very fickle) but he would be a lethal leader of the opposition.

Im puzzled to see Richard of York using this forum to reveal his special feelings for the foreign secretary - get over it Dicky he's spoken for!

Verity

"Oh, not the briar patch! Please, Uncle Remus, don't throw me into the briar patch!"

Terry T

So David Milliband dosen't look like a pm in waiting?
For goodness sake, he looks more like a PM than Cameron, Clegg and Blair put together.

I'm a independent voter, but i'd defo vote for Mili anyday.

Tim W

"He projects aloofness and contrivance, as if hampered by a chronic shyness or worse, an intellectual arrogance."

That comment could be about all of the Labour candidates with the possible exception of Andy Burnham. David Miliband bores me badly and I have yet to see anything which tells me he will improve. Clearly a clever man and not bad foreign secretary (well, at least Hillary Clinton seemed to love him).
But then I find Ed Miliband almost exactly the same with similar communication problems. At least Ed Balls seems to have a bit of passion.

Richard of York

@Strop wold
Do clam down dear.
If I do get shoved in the dock I will be standing next to Guido holding his brief and turning the pages for him...hehe
Happy days.

Frank P

So our Prime Minister is Miliphobic!

Hey, Davey boy! Give that bairn to the trouble 'n' strife; stop posing for happy snaps and get your arse up to Downing Street. There's a fucking war on: a double fronted one - the jihad and the economy and we're losing big time in both theatres. And you're worried about some zombie genetic Marxist whose government just lost the election? What are you like?

"Candidate he most feared????" How dare a Prime Minister of a once great Empire talk of fear of a puny political opponent. Leader? ..... I've shit better!

Frank P

Oh and btw. Crispin Blunt is ginger beer? N O
S H I T, S H E R L O C K!

adrian harper

Cameron is so useless he couldn't even beat unpopular brown on his own. blair wiped the floor with unpopular major 13 years ago in a similar situation. cameron should be worried.
oh and i feel sorry for ffion hague ,its always the wives who suffer most in those scandals isn't it?