Which Miliband?

Don’t be too hard on the Independent leader writer and proof readers. Ed or David Miliband? It’s an easy mistake to make. John Humphrys got it wrong on the Today programme back in May, and even Ed’s own deputy, Harriet Harman, slipped up. “I hope we will have David, er, Ed, Ed Miliband elected as Prime Minister at the next election,” she told Woman’s Hour during the Labour conference in September. At least Harman corrected herself, as the Independent now have on their website. This Daily Mail article from June still carries the wrong caption.

But this affliction is even more widespread than that. Back in July, YouGov showed 1,265 people a picture of Ed Miliband. 80 per cent correctly identified him and 8 per cent said they weren’t sure who it was. 10 per cent were sure: “David Miliband”, they said.

Embarrassment aside, the real concern for Ed is that this may, in many cases, be wishful thinking. In September, YouGov found that 30 per cent of the public think David would make the best Labour leader, against just 9 per cent for Ed. And 36 per cent say Labour would’ve been better off had they chosen David last year (including 45 per cent of the party’s voters).

One thing’s for sure: if David had been elected leader, nobody would accidentally be calling him Ed.