Ed miliband

Thursday

Steerpike

Times columnist comes to the defence of ‘Two Kitchens’ Miliband

Mr Steerpike was interested to see Jenni Russell springing to Ed Miliband’s defence after Sarah Vine took a pop at his kitchen in the Daily Mail. Mrs Gove described his kitchen as ‘drab’ and said it made her want to ‘bring him over some fresh brownies’. Thankfully, as Times columnist Russell points out, this is not his main kitchen. It is in fact his ‘ functional kitchenette’: Ed Miliband’s kitchen is lovely. Daily Mail pix: the functional kitchenette by sitting room for tea and quick snacks. — Jenni Russell (@jennirsl) March 12, 2015 Mr S imagines Russell is a fairly reliable source when it comes to the living arrangements of

Steerpike Steerpike

Miliband could teach Rusbridger a thing or two about meeting men on Hampstead Heath

This morning Alan Rusbridger received a police caution for ‘illegal use of a tripod’ on Hampstead Heath. The Guardian editor has since written a blog detailing his brush with the law. The London police have been trying to nick an editor for years. Today they got one – me http://t.co/IatiJR0ELR — alan rusbridger (@arusbridger) March 12, 2015 The incident began when a man took offence at photos Rusbridger was taking with David Levene. ‘He ran down the hill shouting that I had no right to take pictures and I’d better effing delete them. As he got nearer he became a rather large and shouty speck, sweat beading on his bald head as he bellowed in my face.

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Andy Burnham interview: ‘I wanted a different approach, because I’m mainstream Labour’

Time was when Andy Burnham passed for a middle-of-the-road Labourite: he was deemed insufficiently dramatic and impressive to secure much support when he stood for leader five years ago. But these days, his colleagues — and the bookmakers — consider the shadow health secretary the frontrunner in any new contest. At an otherwise funereal Labour conference last year, his speech received standing ovations. In three months’ time, Burnham will either be health secretary or a serious contender for Labour leader. He has already survived calls from within his party to remove him from the health brief, though he claims Miliband has never raised the prospect. We meet in the smaller

Wednesday

Lloyd Evans

PMQs sketch: Miliband could have lost the election today

Was this the day Ed Miliband lost the election? Only two PMQs remain before polling day and the Labour leader used all six questions to ask David Cameron one thing: when might he ask him more questions? Nothing on policy. Nothing on convictions. Just questions about questions. He meant questions outside the House, of course. On telly. That’s the difference, according to Labour. A televised head-to-head debate is nothing like parliament. Except that PMQs is a televised head-to-head debate. To quiz the PM about quizzing the PM is hardly the tactic of a confident popular leader about to sweep to power. But Miliband had made a calculation. Previously, Cameron had

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Both leaders had their lines to push at PMQs

Rather predictably, Ed Miliband went on the TV debates again today at PMQs. Labour believe that Cameron’s refusal to do a head to head debate, despite having previously indicated he would, can be turned into an issue of character. Miliband today labelled Cameron a bully who runs away when someone stands up to him. But Cameron had his own line to push, that Miliband wanted to crawl into Downing Street on the SNP’s coattails. Every jibe from Miliband was met with this response. It was not an edifying spectacle and the glee with which the SNP watched proceedings did make one wonder where this tactic could lead. But Tory MPs,

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Justine Miliband rushes to her husband’s defence

Justine Miliband has given an interview to the BBC, a sort of ‘back my husband, my hero’ contribution to the Labour election campaign. She starts by talking about the pressures on the family and how ‘being a working mother’, she hasn’t really had a chance to think about what it would be like for the family with Ed in Downing Street. ‘I’ve thought about this and I think it’s going to get worse, I think over the next couple of months it’s going to get really vicious, really personal, but I’m totally up for this fight and I’ve thought about the reason why and the reason is because I think

Sunday

Fraser Nelson

With proper support, state-educated kids beat the privately-educated. Here’s the proof

The Sunday Times today reports proof of what many have long suspected: that if you give bright disadvantaged kids the same support that pupils get at private schools and they beat their privately-educated rivals at top universities. Get three decent A-levels at a private school and you’ve a 65 per cent chance of going to a Russell Group elite university. But state school kids helped by the Social Mobility Foundation have a 70 per cent change, according to a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (pdf). We at The Spectator are great supporters of the Social Mobility Foundation (I recent joined its advisory board). It identifies some of the brightest

Friday

James Forsyth

Number 10 won’t budge on their TV debate offer

The broadcasters have rejected David Cameron’s offer of one seven-way debate before the start of the short campaign. Instead, they are sticking to their plan for two seven-way debates and one head to head between Cameron and Miliband in the short campaign. This means that the debates, certainly in terms of Cameron’s participation, are pretty much dead. Number 10 and CCHQ were insistent that their offer on Wednesday night was final. The Tories’ reason for not wanting to debate is simple: Cameron polls ahead of Miliband on leadership by such a margin that he would have to win the debate by a knock out for it to be worth his

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Miliband under pressure over SNP pact

Labour has found Sir John Major rather useful in this Parliament, with his criticisms of government policy and praise of Ed Miliband’s energy price freeze. But his op-ed in today’s Telegraph in which he demands that Ed Miliband rule out a coalition with the Scottish National Party is rather less helpful. What makes this call even more unhelpful is that many Scottish Labour MPs are desperate for Miliband to rule out a pact because of the damage that shacking up with the SNP would do for their brand in Scotland. They will also have emerged from a bloody battle in which many of their number will have lost seats to

Steerpike Steerpike

Tony Blair spotted fine dining in Burma following his ‘blood money’ Labour donation

This week Tony Blair donated £106,000 to the Labour Party, with £1,000 going to each Labour candidate fighting for a target seat. Ed Miliband has since faced flak for accepting the ‘blood money’ funds, due to unease over the source of the cash given Blair’s dealings with dictatorships such as Kazakhstan. Not that any of this is worrying Blair. Mr S hears that the former Labour leader has been busy sunning himself in Myanmar, where human rights are regarded as among the worst in the world. Blair, who has an estimated worth of nearly £100 million, was spied fine dining in the country’s capital Naypyitaw. When a journalist inquired as to what he was doing there, they were

Thursday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 5 March 2015

Home The man seen in several Islamic State videos of hostages being beheaded, nicknamed Jihadi John by the British press, was revealed as Mohammed Emwazi, aged 26, born in Kuwait but raised from the age of six in London. He was said to have had help with anger management at his secondary school, Quintin Kynaston Academy in St John’s Wood. An advocacy group called Cage produced a recording of him complaining that MI5 had questioned him after he had to turn back from a ‘safari’ in Tanzania in 2009. General Raymond Odierno, the chief of staff of the US army, said he was ‘very concerned’ about British defence cuts. Lance

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

The PM knows the TV debates won’t happen

The broadcasters have now said they could be willing to host a TV debate between David Cameron and Ed Miliband on another date if that means the programmes will actually take place. Though this shows willing on the part of the broadcasters, who have messed up the debates with proposals that would inevitably end up mired in a row, it does not make them more likely to happen. It would be easy for any of the parties who feel hard done by, particularly the Lib Dems, to apply for an injunction against the head-to-head taking place on the grounds that they will have no chance to respond to any claims

James Forsyth James Forsyth

PMQs: The TV debates row rumbles on

There are only a couple more sessions of PMQs left before the election and there was a slightly end of term feeling to today’s session. Ed Miliband started by mocking Cameron’s failure to meet his immigration pledge. Cameron responded by reading out a list of Tory achievements, almost daring Bercow to cut him off – which he eventually did. Cameron then started to mock Miliband asking those putting him on their leaflets to put their hands up, cue Tory MPs enthusiastically putting their hands up. But Miliband then changed tack and started asking about the TV debates. Cameron, who is determined not to do them, was not as comfortable answering

Thursday

Alex Massie

Why an SNP surge at Westminster could mean the end of Britain

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/the-snp-threat-to-westminster/media.mp3″ title=”Alex Massie and Sebastian Payne discuss what an SNP victory will mean for the union” startat=42] Listen [/audioplayer]Anyone seeking to understand the strength of the SNP should look to those parts of Scotland where the party is supposed to be weakest. At the last election, the nationalists took just under 10 per cent of the vote in the Scottish Borders. This year, Tory canvass returns suggest the SNP may treble its share of the vote in one of the most staunchly unionist seats in Scotland. For months, opinion polls have made unremittingly gloomy reading for unionists. The nationalists are heading for a victory on a scale still not

Wednesday

Lloyd Evans

PMQs sketch: A jam for Cam but the greased piglet escaped again!

That was a close one. Miliband set two traps for the PM today. One was visible. The other, far more dangerous, was hidden until the very last moment. Miliband wants Tories to vote against a bill that will forbid serving MPs from acting as company directors. This connects sweetly with his  ‘Thatcherite swine gobbling at the Westminster trough’ motif. The Labour leader asked Cameron if he minded MPs having two jobs. ‘He has a chance to vote for change tonight.’ Cameron blithely objected that the new bill excludes directors of family businesses but not ‘paid trade union officials.’ Miliband pounced. Conceding Cameron’s point, he offered to make a ‘manuscript amendment’

Steerpike Steerpike

Is London Calling for Dan Snow? The Clash of the classes kicks off in Kensington

Following news that the Tories are apparently hoping telegenic posho historian Dan Snow will stand in Kensington, class war looks to be coming to the streets of the Royal Borough. Ian Bone, the publisher of revolutionary tabloid Class War, will stand against Snow if he’s selected for the Tories. A source close to Bone tells Mr S: ‘The remaining members of The Clash have offered support along with other music legends from Ladbroke Grove.’ That’s one more celebrity endorsement than Ed Miliband ever managed then. Update: Class War have released a nifty poster as part of their campaign

Steerpike Steerpike

Anna Soubry’s choice of words raises eyebrows

After Inside the Commons drew to a close last night, a new row involving the House of Commons documentary developed. Reports have emerged claiming that in unused footage an MP was recorded calling Ed Miliband a ‘sanctimonious c-nt’. Anna Soubry has taken the hard line approach of denying she said any such thing, threatening legal action on anyone who wishes to accuse her. The Tory MP says any footage claiming to show this will prove that she said the word ‘rubbish’ as opposed to a profanity. While Mr S would never doubt an MP’s word, Steerpike couldn’t help but think back to the time the defence minister caused offence with her choice of language on The Andrew Marr

Alex Krasodomski

Twitter has become a barometer for the political issues of the day

Twitter has never been friendly to British politicians. From MPs’ gaffes that spread across the platform like wildfire to the incessant trolling, it can’t make good bedtime reading for anyone on the front benches. Most MPs would probably dismiss most of what they read on Twitter as either stupid or horrible. But as we approach the General Election, the volume of chatter is starting to get louder. Increasing numbers of people are turning to Twitter to have their say in the run up to May 2015. Much of it is neither stupid nor horrible. In work being done by the Centre for Social Media Analysis (CASM) for the Sunday Times, we have begun

Monday

Steerpike

Ed Miliband attempts to build bridges with the arts world, but where will the money come from?

After Labour confirmed that they would not reverse Tory art cuts, the luvvies turned on Ed. During a spending plans onslaught from the Tories earlier in the year, the party spin machine proudly boasted: p.44 of Tory dossier says Labour will cancel cuts to the arts budget. We won’t. — Labour Press Team (@labourpress) January 5, 2015 Leading to a thorough pasting from all sorts of media darlings: This is not something to brag about. RT @labourpress: p.44 of Tory dossier says Labour will cancel cuts to the arts budget. We won’t. — Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) January 6, 2015 @labourpress And you’re proud of that? Jesus. — Simon Blackwell (@simonblackwell)

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour demands David Cameron commit to TV debate with Ed Miliband

Will any of the General Election TV debates take place? Labour hopes they will, and today Douglas Alexander has written to Grant Shapps demanding that the Tories commit to doing the head-to-head debate with Ed Miliband, even if all the smaller parties are tying themselves up into fights over he seven-way debate. Alexander writes: ‘In the light of the previous comments from yourself and Mr Cameron, I am sure you will agree this is a “credible debate” and an excellent opportunity for the British people to watch the two leaders who stand a realistic chance of being Prime Minister after May 7. ‘I am happy to confirm on Mr Miliband’s