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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