Miliband's proximity problem
Peter Hoskin 12:18pm
Ed Miliband is on unusually assertive form this morning. His observation in the FT that ‘my speech to Labour’s annual conference was not — I think it is
fair to say — universally well-received’ is not, I think, intended self-deprecatingly, but rather self-congratulatory, as though he were the only politician calling for a
‘responsible capitalism’ at the time. And he's repeated that suggestion elsewhere: in a short
statement for Which?, and in a Labour briefing document — entitled Who is he trying to kid? — that has been filtered around
the crowd at David Cameron's speech. Ed is trying to crash Dave's party, and bring it crashing down. Like I say, he's being unusually assertive.
But there's a big problem for Miliband, and it's one that afflicts many opposition leaders after a change of government: his proximity to the old regime. In calling for a ‘responsible capitalism’ he's effectively saying that the capitalism Labour presided over was irresponsible, or not responsible enough. And while this may be a necessary break with the past on his part, it's also a difficult one. He's going to come up against a lot of cynicism along the lines of, well, ‘Who are you trying to kid?’ This was, after all, the party that brought you Sir Fred Goodwin. That sort of embarrassment is hard to shift.
So it's little surprise to hear that David Cameron is ‘sympathetic’ to the idea of stripping Goodwin of his title. Of course, the PM probably has very upstanding reasons for doing so: sending out the message that failure cannot be met with reward, for instance. But it also exacerbates and calls attention to Miliband's proximity problem. It creates an obvious divide between the party that knighted Goodwin and the party that declassed him.
That said, I hope that Cameron doesn't act on his sympathies here. Far better that the government operates in policies rather than in gestures. Goodwin's knighthood has already been degraded beyond any worth, to the point of being a joke. Let it persist as a reminder of what can happen when governments succumb to lazy corporatism. That's trouble enough for Ed Miliband.
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TomTom
January 19th, 2012 12:27pm Report this commentMiliband is no more a pantomime horse than other politicians; they are all empty suits. We have the bizarre spectacle of Greece finally sinking below the waves and the Hedge Funds want to use the Euro Court of Human Rights to get their pound of flesh guaranteed. That would be the ultimate joke on Europe - to have taxpayers obligated by the ECHR to pay every last cent to Unregulated Financial Speculators.
Merkozy think a Transactions Tax is the answer and Allianz SE says it will leave Germany. This Displacement and Cognitive Dissonance shows the World is run by people more like Francesco Schettino than our Establishment Cruise Line operators like to believe
Sally Chatterjee
January 19th, 2012 12:27pm Report this commentWho is Ed Miliband trying to kid?
He served under Gordon Brown as Energy Secretary but only now does he talk about expensive bills. He's not fooling me, that's certain.
ButcombeMan
January 19th, 2012 12:28pm Report this commentHis big problem is his state of denial about "responsible government" or rather the lack of it, when he and Balls were conspiring with the Great Leader to produce the "Big Brown Mess".
You should stop paying attention to him. Unless he and Balls own up they are pointless.
Sir Everard Digby
January 19th, 2012 12:38pm Report this commentLet's not fall for the soundbite. Responsible capitalism = more legislation.
Ed has not realised that state controlled morality which removes any responsibilty for a personal moral framework, is the problem,not the solution.
What were Labour saying about this in 2001?
'it plans to force companies to reveal details of directors' salaries and bonuses in a long-awaited clampdown on boardroom 'fat cats'
Worked well hasn't it?
Yes, boardrooms are behaving badly and are beyond control. But they will simply go somewhere else and continue to be so. They do not want to change and are motivated by pure greed.
Much the same as many inmates of the Palace of Westminster.
Does Ed have any original,workable ideas?
toco
January 19th, 2012 12:46pm Report this commentBest just to ignore Red Ed and let him self damage.As for Fred the Shred he should most certainly lose his ill gotten knighthood to protect the integrity of the honour.
Captn P
January 19th, 2012 12:57pm Report this commentDo it the week before the next election... The proverbial head on a pole for potential Labour voters.
Russell
January 19th, 2012 1:00pm Report this commentCameron speech this morning universally accepted as an excellent speech, even the bbc couldn't find anyone to disagree, despite their best efforts.
Miliband and his predators speech shown to be lightweight by comparison.
Not only should Fred Goodwin be stripped of any title, but it is long overdue that Lords and Ladies, and Baronesses should similarly be able to have their titles and priviledges removed.
Line up Udin, Mandelson, Martin, Prescot, both Kinnocks and at least another couple of hundred, remove their continued taxpayer funded lifestyle and publicly name and shame them.
Holly ......
January 19th, 2012 1:04pm Report this commentAssertive eh?
Is that the New Generation word for 'trying to airbrush out all the shit we caused'?
Like him or not Cameron has never ever claimed to be a 'real' Tory, yet the 'as fair as is reasonably possible, under the weight of the s***', policies seem to be having the same effect as if Cameron was a 'real' Tory, simply because the Tories whether 'real' or lite are hated by the left.
Miliband is trying to be Blair, so like the other numbnuts, lag behind the rest of us..Who are quite numb from the aftershock,
but nowhere near as nuts as we were...Now we
responsibly pay down mortgages & personal
debt.Who'd a thunk it of us eh?
If someone had said back in '07, by 2012 you'll have paid a chunk off your mortgage, we'd 'ave laaarfed.
daniel maris
January 19th, 2012 1:07pm Report this commentA gesture is exactly what is required now. Stripping Goodwin and a few others of their titles would be a good start.
WE also need to do something effective about higher executive pay.
Austin Barry
January 19th, 2012 1:17pm Report this commentEd should adopt a lower profile for a while.
We are growing tired of this ubiquitous, sultana-eyed-gingerbread-man and his endless banalities uttered with that desperate, brow-furrowed sincerity.
Perhaps he should take a holiday, possibly to Albania where he would be considered handsome and charismatic.
David Bouvier
January 19th, 2012 1:39pm Report this commentIt seems like a bad idea to politicising old honours. Do we want that kind of system.
If I got to make a list of those deserviing to be stripped of them for being unpopular, I doubt Goodwin would be at the top.
But it would then become the sport for new governments to abuse a few retired folk for political gain.
Dogzzz
January 19th, 2012 1:41pm Report this comment"Goodwin's knighthood has already been degraded beyond any worth, to the point of being a joke."
Sadly, so long as he has a knighthood, it also degrades all other knighthoods. It is for this reason that Cameron must rescind Goodwin's gong!
Ken
January 19th, 2012 1:56pm Report this comment@Dogzzz..and while he's at it the PM should find a powerful legal team to prosecute the Shred for his appalling stewardship of RBS. Even the weak-need FSA thought "someone should be held accountable"!
Publius
January 19th, 2012 3:06pm Report this commentDavid Bouvier writes:
"It seems like a bad idea to politicising old honours."
Absolutely right. It is a silly, vulgar and populist move, yet another way of pandering midlessly (and cynically) to the latest fad.
Better to exercise more restraint in dishing out these gongs in the first place. (But of course that original dishing-out was also mindless, populist, faddish, etc.)
Hypocricy
January 19th, 2012 3:07pm Report this commentEd could do worse than distance himself from 'irresponsible polticians', using their position for personal gain, Ms. Jack Dromey springs to mind.
Woody
January 19th, 2012 3:29pm Report this commentPeople are quite entitled to ask what the hell they did in those 13 years in government - absolutely naff all by the looks of it.
When are we going to get a thread on the biased BBC - they are becoming an absolute disgrace. R5Live should be renamed Labour5live.
David Lindsay
January 19th, 2012 3:50pm Report this commentAfter having ridiculed Ed Miliband for his Conference denunciation of predator capitalism, David Cameron now echoes the sentiment and wants there to be far more co-operatives. Jolly good.
Although, of course, there are still those who disagree. I refer, of course, to the tiny Blairite rump within the London Labour "Party", which monopolises media coverage of Labour affairs, and the standard of which is borne by the execrable Dan Hodges. Read him today, and see if you can work out whether to laugh or to cry.
If I thought that the Co-operative Party, the Fabian Society and the Christian Socialist Movement were actively co-operating with each other and with the unions in order to replace in this Parliament the party of Andy Newman and Dan Hodges, the party of Ken Livingstone and Hilary Perrin, then I might rejoin them. In fact, I would have done it by now. Why aren't they? What are they waiting for?
Cynic
January 19th, 2012 6:24pm Report this comment"In calling for a ‘responsible capitalism’ he's effectively saying that the capitalism Labour presided over was irresponsible, or not responsible enough." We know it was irresponsible. He still hasn't held his hands up (except perhaps in that Hallelujah photograph at the top of the page) and actually said sorry for the mess Labour's incompetence and deliberate wrecking tactics wrought over the last 13 years, though, has he? He's trying to distance himself without actually admitting any blame for the c*ck up he was part of. Consequently he has about as much credibility as a man peddling green cheese from the moon.
Andy W H
January 19th, 2012 7:19pm Report this commentEd M's stance on irresponsible capitalism would carry more weight if balanced by some criticism of irresponsible socialism.
Dimoto
January 19th, 2012 10:32pm Report this commentWhy do I get this strong impression that Cameron is quite happy to move on to Red's turf for a little while, and even give him some credit ?
After all, we wouldn't want young Red to suffer premature ejection, weould we ?
And this tosh will be forgotten before Springtime.
Dimoto
January 19th, 2012 10:36pm Report this commentAnd as for Fred, let him keep his bauble, but go after him to force a return of at least a portion of his ill-gotten gains.
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