There is a lot of silly talk doing the rounds in media circles about how unelectable and unconvincing Ed Miliband is. It's true that the clever one is still very much on a learning curve and that euphemistically his leadership is 'a work in progress', but it's important to make one or two points to defend this besieged individual.
First of all there is a lot of tosh about how Ed 'doesn't look like a future Prime Minister'. What drivel. Did Margaret Thatcher, pre-1979, seem like Prime Minister material? Did Harold Wilson appear to be authoritative and a commanding presence before he was appointed as the first among equals? Most people, David Cameron included, don't look like a Prime Minister until they actually become one. After all, we all know of countless individuals in our family and friendship circles who we struggled to imagine as becoming a doctor or a teacher until they were actually employed as such. Similarly, we all wondered with some alarm how a particular young guy or young woman could ever cope as a father or a mother, only to subsequently discover that they were 'naturals' in such roles - something that was not patently apparent before the event.
Secondly, poor young 'red Ed' is simply the latest in a long line of Labour leaders whom Fleet Street has taken an almost instant dislike to. Perhaps with the exception of Tony Blair [a bloke who could have charmed his way out of a room with no doors in it], almost all Labour leaders in living memory have incurred the antipathy of a media that is unashamedly right of centre and which almost automatically pulls up its drawbridge when a new Labour leader enters the bear-pit of British politics. After all, the hacks and journos may have had a begrudging admiration for the wily Harold Wilson, but they were less impressed with 'sunny Jim' Callaghan. The red tops thought that Michael Foot was more a laughable fool than a would-be statesman. The gutter press also stamped on Neil Kinnock, even though he took significant and courageous steps to move Labour away from the brink of militancy. Then there was Gordon Brown, another Labour leader whom the media mercilessly threw rotten tomatoes at.
Yes, it seems to go with the territory for any Labour leader that he or she will have to cope with the abuse from a prejudiced media that decides right from the starting pistol that the new incumbent is not worthy of the benefit of the doubt. Nevertheless, Ed Miliband spectacularly demonstrated in the Labour leadership contest that he should not be written off as a no-hoper. This should serve as an ominous reminder for the complacent Conservative leadership and complacent conservative press. Red Ed may not look like Prime Minister material but it wasn't so long ago that he didn't necessarily pose as Labour leadership material either. Life is full of little surprises. Could unelectable, unconvincing Ed be standing at the portico of ten Downing Street in May 2015? Stranger things have happened.
Mind you, if Ed does prove to be a dead Ed next May and is as unelectable as the doom-mongers would have us believe, then it is likely that he will fall on his own sword, post-election. We then could be faced with the very real possibility that the personable and media-friendly Chuka Umunna [or the talented Rushanara Ali] could be upgraded to the position of Leader of the Opposition. I would quite like to see this. In particular, I would dearly love to see Trevor Kavanagh of the Scum newspaper and the other Labour-haters in the press pour scorn on Mr Umunna. It would be interesting to see if they can find any angle to heap their customary abuse upon him, as to criticise a black person could be misconstrued as 'racist'. Oh it would be jolly nice fun to see the swine of the media belatedly button their big lips in the face of a Labour leader. Again, stranger things have happened.
In the mean time, we all must soldier on with the seemingly unelectable Ed Miliband. I suspect that although he lacks the charisma of Nigel Farage or the gravitas of David Cameron, young Edward just might be triumphantly waving from the doorstep of ten Downing Street next year.
*****SEE ALSO http://gw930.blog.com
First of all there is a lot of tosh about how Ed 'doesn't look like a future Prime Minister'. What drivel. Did Margaret Thatcher, pre-1979, seem like Prime Minister material? Did Harold Wilson appear to be authoritative and a commanding presence before he was appointed as the first among equals? Most people, David Cameron included, don't look like a Prime Minister until they actually become one. After all, we all know of countless individuals in our family and friendship circles who we struggled to imagine as becoming a doctor or a teacher until they were actually employed as such. Similarly, we all wondered with some alarm how a particular young guy or young woman could ever cope as a father or a mother, only to subsequently discover that they were 'naturals' in such roles - something that was not patently apparent before the event.
Secondly, poor young 'red Ed' is simply the latest in a long line of Labour leaders whom Fleet Street has taken an almost instant dislike to. Perhaps with the exception of Tony Blair [a bloke who could have charmed his way out of a room with no doors in it], almost all Labour leaders in living memory have incurred the antipathy of a media that is unashamedly right of centre and which almost automatically pulls up its drawbridge when a new Labour leader enters the bear-pit of British politics. After all, the hacks and journos may have had a begrudging admiration for the wily Harold Wilson, but they were less impressed with 'sunny Jim' Callaghan. The red tops thought that Michael Foot was more a laughable fool than a would-be statesman. The gutter press also stamped on Neil Kinnock, even though he took significant and courageous steps to move Labour away from the brink of militancy. Then there was Gordon Brown, another Labour leader whom the media mercilessly threw rotten tomatoes at.
Yes, it seems to go with the territory for any Labour leader that he or she will have to cope with the abuse from a prejudiced media that decides right from the starting pistol that the new incumbent is not worthy of the benefit of the doubt. Nevertheless, Ed Miliband spectacularly demonstrated in the Labour leadership contest that he should not be written off as a no-hoper. This should serve as an ominous reminder for the complacent Conservative leadership and complacent conservative press. Red Ed may not look like Prime Minister material but it wasn't so long ago that he didn't necessarily pose as Labour leadership material either. Life is full of little surprises. Could unelectable, unconvincing Ed be standing at the portico of ten Downing Street in May 2015? Stranger things have happened.
Mind you, if Ed does prove to be a dead Ed next May and is as unelectable as the doom-mongers would have us believe, then it is likely that he will fall on his own sword, post-election. We then could be faced with the very real possibility that the personable and media-friendly Chuka Umunna [or the talented Rushanara Ali] could be upgraded to the position of Leader of the Opposition. I would quite like to see this. In particular, I would dearly love to see Trevor Kavanagh of the Scum newspaper and the other Labour-haters in the press pour scorn on Mr Umunna. It would be interesting to see if they can find any angle to heap their customary abuse upon him, as to criticise a black person could be misconstrued as 'racist'. Oh it would be jolly nice fun to see the swine of the media belatedly button their big lips in the face of a Labour leader. Again, stranger things have happened.
In the mean time, we all must soldier on with the seemingly unelectable Ed Miliband. I suspect that although he lacks the charisma of Nigel Farage or the gravitas of David Cameron, young Edward just might be triumphantly waving from the doorstep of ten Downing Street next year.
*****SEE ALSO http://gw930.blog.com
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