Miliband’s pre-election surgery

Miliband-o-rama on this Good Friday, with the Labour leader spread all across the papers. The Mirror reports that he is to have an operation to have his adenoids removed this summer, in a rather extreme bid to “improve his voice”. The Guardian says that he’s to deliver a speech next week — presumably with adenoids still intact — that will engage with the “Blue Labour” thinking of Maurice Glasman. And, if that’s not enough, there’s a curious interview with Miliband in the Sun.

I say “curious,” because there aren’t too many interviews where a party leader goes through the (less than flattering) nicknames that have been bestowed upon him — and offers comments. On Wallace, from Wallace and Gromit, he says, “I don’t see the resemblance, but it is not bad.” On Buzz Lightweight, he groans at the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn, “That was you.” On Red Ed, he makes a pronouncement that lends the interview its headline, as well as its central thrust:

“Red Ed has died a death. It’s supposed to suggest that I am somehow outside the mainstream. But I will stand and my party will stand for the mainstream of Britain — for Sun readers and for their concerns.”

These are, potentially, a pivotal few weeks for Miliband — so the burst of activity is unsurprising. The psephologists suggest that anything less than 1,000 seat gains for Labour at the local elections will be unimpressive, while the party itself is spinning that 600 would be a decent return. In either case, you suspect, Miliband will be left trying to persuade on two fronts: that Labour have won big enough, and that their successes weren’t just by some sort of electoral default.