Strikingly good BBC Question Time last night, the highlight of which was David Miliband being asked if he could save the Labour Party. He avoided that question, but his answers to the others seemed to suggest he is ruling himself out of the job because he made so many mistakes.
First, he admitted he became Foreign Secretary without knowing that Robert Mugabe had been given an honorary knighthood – something that has been a contentious issue since Blair was dragged into it five years ago. Then, on 42 days, Miliband claimed “you can be held for up to four years in France” – it’s actually four days, as Shami Chakrabarti lost no time in pointing out.
There were plenty other little errors (like claiming the Pakistan-Afghan border is 2,600 miles long – out by about a thousand miles). But what most amused me most was his claiming that “taxes are actually falling this year”. If only. They’re up 4.5% to £575bn this year, according to the HM Treasury – and deferred taxation (or “borrowing” as Brown calls it) will be up another £30bn. He perhaps meant that the Treasury (implausibly) claims the economy will grow just a smidgeon faster than the taxes. But no one, anywhere, suggests taxes are falling.
Now, this is not typical Miliband: he’s a policy wonk by training and normally knows his stuff. Last night was a stunning lack of form, on some fairly basic issues. “There are very few programmes where you can speak to millions of people and actually give them the facts,” Miliband said at one point. Would help if he furnished himself with some next time he comes on.
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