Is Ed Miliband living on borrowed time?

First topic message reminder :

Tonight’s YouGov poll for the Sun has topline figures of CON 41%, LAB 39%, LDEM 10%, Others 10%. This is the first time that YouGov have shown a Conservative lead since December 2010. It certainly looks as though the Conservatives have recieved a boost from David Cameron’s veto at the European summit. There is also a new ComRes poll out tonight for the Independent which has topline figures of CON 38%(+1), LAB 38%(-1), LDEM 12%(+2) – also showing the two main parties effectively neck-and-neck. How is it that the tories can be level or ahead in the polls when they are having to make some very difficult and painfull decisions to try and bring down the deficit, the umemployment figures are the worst for 17 years. We have had strikes, pension reforms, VAT rises and the veto in Europe etc.......

It looks like Ed Millaband is not liked or trusted by many of the elecorate. In my opinion he looks weak, sounds weak and has no policies to speak of....Everytime he tries to get the better of Cameron in PMQ'S he ends looking like a fool with Cameron destroying him. Ed Balls is no better...he comes across as an odious man with no substance, who would probably stab his own wife in the back if it meant he gained more power.

Labour missed a trick in not voting in Eds brother David into the leadership role. David would have given Cameron a better run for his money and I believe he is a better politician than Ed too. With the two Eds at the helm I believe Labour are not a viable opposition right now and one or both could be dispatched by the party sooner rather than later

sickchip wrote:

boatlady wrote:Lovely picture, Ivan

Alas - a fantasy is all it is.

Sickchip never say never people that would normally vote Labour if they think Labour will lose they will vote Independents or maybe the trade Unions will put up candidates or Owen Jones peoples party.

Ed's address to the Labour Party Conference next month better include a hand-grenade if he wants anyone to notice what he's got to say.

oftenwrong wrote:Ed's address to the Labour Party Conference next month better include a hand-grenade if he wants anyone to notice what he's got to say.

Or OW another speech like last years conference speech that took eveyones breath away, then to keep it going for the next 18 months in the House of Commons.:yeahthat: 

Parliament recalled on Thursday. Ed's chance to shine.

oftenwrong wrote:Parliament recalled on Thursday.  Ed's chance to shine.

What a way to shine OW at the expense of the Syrian people, I just hope another way can be found rather then another war on the middle east.

I never thought I would say this and I dont care if it was politiocally motivated or not....But well done to Ed Milliband for standing against Cameron and showing a lot of common sense by not supporting Camerons plan to start another war Britain can ill afford and does not need.

When will our politicians ever learn that these 'religeous wars/conflicts' are nothing to do with us and will only help to escalate the violence, both in Syria and probably close to home through terroism

Thank you Ed, The Labour party and any others who voted against taking 'HASTY' action without all the facts and a plan/idea or what would happen next

Blue you have surprised me today and that is being biased to you and the tory party.   Because 30 Tory MPs also voted against Camerons and his urge for the UK to go into !!!  I was also very proud of Ed Miliband and proud to be a Lefty.   Maybe you will be able to answer a question I have, why will the Arab league not sort its problems in the middle East instead of the West always having to be the worlds policeman?
 
You seem to be a very sensible Tory voter  while most of the Tories seem to be losing their heads including gov't ministers, I NEVER thought I would hear you praise Ed but thank you for giving credit where credit is due.

Hi Red, I totally agree with you, it should be the Arab league that decides if any action should be taken against Assad. Many Arab nations have spent forubes buying military equipment from Britain, the US and France...maybe its time they used them if they have the evidence that Assad has used chemical weapons.

As for Ed Miliband....At last he has listened to the people and maybe if he carries on in this vein, his approval rating wil shoot up. I notice the press are starting to circle baying for blood, so I hope he sticks to his guns. It was good to see the rebels go against cameron on this one, but I am a realist and believe Miliband took the lead and was the real winner here...if you can say there is a winner in this awful situation that is.

Red...The reason I am usually so tough on Miliband is because I believe the country deserves and needs and effective opposition, not another party who just goes along with Tory policies....other wise what's the point?

blueturando wrote:Hi Red, I totally agree with you, it should be the Arab league that decides if any action should be taken against Assad. Many Arab nations have spent forubes buying military equipment from Britain, the US and France...maybe its time they used them if they have the evidence that Assad has used chemical weapons.

As for Ed Miliband....At last he has listened to the people and maybe if he carries on in this vein, his approval rating wil shoot up. I notice the press are starting to circle baying for blood, so I hope he sticks to his guns. It was good to see the rebels go against cameron on this one, but I am a realist and believe Miliband took the lead and was the real winner here...if you can say there is a winner in this awful situation that is.

Red...The reason I am usually so tough on Miland is because I believe the country deserves and need and effective opposition, not another party who just goes along with Tory policies....other wise what's the point?

You keep on surprising me Blue, and up to a certain point I agree with what you have to say Ed does have to lead but at the same time listening to his voters and not lying to them as Cameron has done then denied that he did LIED to them the privatization of OUR NHS isthe biggest LIE. If he is not privatizing it why are there so many adverts on UK TV for private health Insurance, plus the H.C.A private health company has given the Tory party £17,000 in donations and in return the Tory party has awarded the said company a gov't contract worth millions, the same compamy is under ivestigation for over charging the UK of £193 million between 2009 & 2011 and this company has been handed a contract for those unfortunate enough to get cancerous brain tumours when the NHS has one of the best hospitals and the best tools to and good record of getting people back to health.

No wonder the Tory party will get a good kicking from the voting public in May 2015 general election, I would suggest you read the full story on what I have said in todays Daily Mirror page11 I know this weill go against your grain to buy the paper but I would urge you to overcome that and see what most of us in the UK see.

In my household we enjoy a separation of responsibilities, which makes for a stress-free environment. The little woman deals with the little things, like keeping a roof over our heads and putting food on the table, leaving me free to decide whether or not we should attack Syria.

Lol OW....i hope you make the right decision

oftenwrong wrote:In my household we enjoy a separation of responsibilities, which makes for a stress-free environment.  The little woman deals with the little things, like keeping a roof over our heads and putting food on the table, leaving me free to decide whether or not we should attack Syria.

Syria has got to be handled a different way with our record in the middle east failed every time, its time its own neighbours got its hands dirty in sorting it out instead of the west always having to go in and make a cock up let the people that know the area sort it.

Is Ed Miliband living on borrowed time?

Ed will have borrowed some comfort from three headlines all in today's news:

1. Gove heads for showdown with Unions
2. Cameron sidelined on Syria at G20 summit
3. IDS dismisses benefit reform fears.

I must admit, I've been smiling (a bit) at the news today

I enjoyed reading the papers this morning too for a change boatlady.

Ken Livingstone on Ed Miliband:-
 
“I’ve had to deal with every Labour leader since Wilson and there are only two I would trust with my life in their hands, and that’s John Smith and Ed Miliband.

When you actually look at every other Labour leader, and even Alex Salmond, they spend all their time courting Murdoch, and for a politician to stand up to Murdoch is a clear indication of strength of character, given what he might incur. He overrode all the weak-hearted around him on the energy price freeze. And in saying no to the Syrian adventure.....you’ve got to go back to 1956 for an opposition leader, or a Labour leader, to oppose that sort of foreign intervention. Those are all good signs.

I spent quite a lot of time with him in the first years of his leadership, because I was the candidate for mayor, and I was very impressed. He really didn’t give a sod about the personality side of politics, he was always just focused on where he wanted to take the country.”
 
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/04/ken-livingstone-interview-boris-hasnt-set-right-wing-agenda-he-hasnt-done-anything

All very commendable - and doubtless true.

But will the voters hold the same view...?      

As I have said before PH I believe that Ed Miliband will surprise many people in the next 12 months, he has stopped keeping his powder dry because he knows this is the time for the real Ed Miliband to stand up and be counted.   He has worked it out he needs to stand up to the Vile Tories on behalf of all Labour voters, so I was was Davy boy I would be protecting his rear end because Ed is going to KICK the S**T OUT OF IT   

If you can't beat 'em - and he can't - join 'em...!

Ed Miliband wasn’t my choice for Labour leader – Andy Burnham was – and, like most people, I expected David Miliband to get the job. I wish Ed had a bit more fire in his belly, but nevertheless I’ve grown to like him, seeing him as a decent and honest man who has been strong enough to stand up to the banks, the energy companies, those who wanted to attack Syria and, I thought, Rupert Murdoch.
 
Until now, I think he has only made one really bad error of judgement. That was in appointing Alan Johnson as shadow chancellor, when he had two trained economists to choose from in Yvette Cooper and Ed Balls. Johnson was bemused at getting the job, and he had to buy himself a ‘teach yourself economics’ manual as he knew very little about the subject. Okay, ignorance has never stopped Tories from getting jobs (Gove shows that nearly every time he opens his trap), but I’d like to think Labour can do better. Anyway, Johnson resigned quite soon afterwards because of matrimonial difficulties and Ed Balls got his job.
 
Now Ed Miliband has walked into a Murdoch trap. Cameron and Clegg were quite happy to pose with copies of ‘The Sun’, ostensibly to support the England football team in the World Cup. When I saw on Twitter that picture of Ed doing likewise I assumed it was a fake, but sadly I was wrong. He must be aware of the strength of feeling on Merseyside towards that repulsive excuse for a newspaper, and then there is the ‘no more page three’ campaign. He may well have cost Labour the votes of many scousers and feminists.

No doubt if Ed had refused to be photographed he would have been pilloried by ‘The Sun’ as an enemy of England (just as his father was called an enemy of Britain by ‘The Daily Mail’). But couldn’t he have been photographed holding a copy of ‘The Daily Mirror’ instead; I’m sure that paper must also have a feature about the World Cup? If not, couldn’t he have just issued a statement supporting the footballers, or written a letter to the more reputable of the newspapers? Yes, it was a bad error of judgement, and as a loyal supporter I’m very disappointed.

Yep - love him or hate him, Tony Blair knew how to win an election against the mouth-foaming Tories.

 Poor old Ed -such a lovely bloke, but that's just not enough when you are dealing with the Tory scum. Labour will have to choose a more abrasive leader next time, but one who is not seen as an ignorant bruiser such as Prescott.

 But before any Labour leader has a chance of power , how many more tens and tens of thousands of good people will have to pay the penalty of suffering a Conservative government? Truly, I despair...

Who'd like to be a fly-on-the-wall when Ed Miliband meets Mike Darcey for dinner this week? Mr Darcey is chief executive officer of News UK, owner of The Sun.

"...meets Mike Darcey for dinner ..."


Knowing the high esteem in which Mr M is held by The Sun, Ed will be serving at table, I assume...?    

The plate without the parsley is the plate without the poison.

Phil Hornby wrote:-
Yep - love him or hate him, Tony Blair knew how to win an election against the mouth-foaming Tories….Labour will have to choose a more abrasive leader next time

Is it possible to love and hate Blair at the same time? Love him for humiliating the Tories in 1997 and 2001, love him for trebling spending on the NHS, doubling expenditure on education and introducing the minimum wage (albeit at a much too low rate).
 
I dislike Blair for never using the word ‘socialism’ and for seeming to have more empathy with the better off than with Labour’s grassroots constituency. And although I can see a justification for the Afghanistan campaign, I hate Blair for getting us involved in Bush’s adventure in Iraq, because in the long run it made a bad situation there even worse, and also because it cost Labour so much support. I particularly hate that ‘power’ photo of him strutting along with Bush with his hands in his pockets:-
 
                                       
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wNJtF1XNe8Y/RkwqK-c4o8I/AAAAAAAAANE/s_w_ouE0CLQ/s400/Bush+
 
Blair has charisma and, just like Bill Clinton, you can’t help liking him even when you know he’s a rogue. You have to love him when you watch him putting Farage in his place in the EU Parliament back in 2005:-
 

www.youtube.com/embed/m7vAGvqB2vs?
 
Maybe Labour should have a female leader next time – Yvette Cooper?  

Like yourself IVAN I did not vote for Ed Miliband for Labour leader I thought there was too much HYPE going on with him and his brother.  I also voted for Andy Burnham for Labour leader, but all Ed needs is someone to put the "FIRE in his BELLY" and Labour will win the 2015 general election, Ed is proving to be s open honest politician something that is very short on the ground with the shower of BACKSTUDS that are in gov't at the moment, and as you said he is standing up to the Banks,Energy Companies Pay Day Loan Sharks and those involved in the phone hacking scandal.

I just hope that Axelrod can complete the parts in Ed that need finishing touches so by the Autumn he comes out swinging just like Mohammed Ali.  

"...swinging just like Mohammed Ali.  "


Float like a butterfly; sting like ...er...a butterfly...       

Phil Hornby wrote:If you can't beat 'em - and he can't - join 'em...!

join 'em?

he always one of them!

he's as much a tool of big business, capital and right wing politics as the rest of the house of commons.

To the deeply cynical, it might appear that the entire apparatus of Government (including all who sail in her) is a device to pacify the Plebs whilst self-appointed Rulers go about their business of making money, interrupted briefly every five years by an illusion of "choice" for the electorate.

That makes mugs of us all, which I don't think we are.

America shows the way.
Labour supporters unhappy with the appearance of the party leader may wish to consider the alternative:



http://celebrity.uk.msn.com/news/clooney-heading-into-politics

oftenwrong wrote:To the deeply cynical, it might appear that the entire apparatus of Government (including all who sail in her) is a device to pacify the Plebs whilst self-appointed Rulers go about their business of making money, interrupted briefly every five years by an illusion of "choice" for the electorate.

That makes mugs of us all, which I don't think we are.

True though!

The early days of computing produced a couple of acronyms to guide the novice: GIGO (garbage in = garbage out) and, what still applies, WYSIWYG. What you see is what you get.

In politics, the voter can choose between self-centred Tory, quisling Lib-Dem, opportunistic UKIP or Labour.

When you have examined all the alternatives, the least-bad is probably the correct choice.

Redflag said:    I just hope that Axelrod can complete the parts in Ed that need finishing touches so by the Autumn he comes out swinging just like Mohammed Ali.  

Sorry Red but before Ed Miliband even dreams of finishing anything, he will have to get it started first.
His lack of opposition leadership, will not just cost us another (at least) 5 years of Tory rule, but will deprive us of what I think could make a passable Prime Minister.

bobby wrote:Redflag said:    I just hope that Axelrod can complete the parts in Ed that need finishing touches so by the Autumn he comes out swinging just like Mohammed Ali.  

Sorry Red but before Ed Miliband even dreams of finishing anything, he will have to get it started first.
His lack of opposition leadership, will not just cost us another (at least) 5 years of Tory rule, but will deprive us of what I think could make a passable Prime Minister.

I think Ed Milibands problem is he is being TOO HONEST with the public, he thinks the other parties are just the same    I do not know where he has been for the last 4 years the LIES are a regular feature in every weeks PMQs, yesterday Scameron said the waiting time in A & E is 30 MINUTES and quoted how long under the Labour 13 years in office, I think that he must be referring to his own private health Insurance scheme, because I am hearing on the news & newspapers and the tweets off twitter all tell a different story.  

We can say what we like and produce all manner of statistics, polls and predictions, but the chances of Ed being PM are about the same as those of me becoming the next Chairman of Pease Pottage Conservative Club and receiving an OBE for services to ballet dancing...

oftenwrong wrote:The early days of computing produced a couple of acronyms to guide the novice:  GIGO (garbage in = garbage out) and, what still applies, WYSIWYG.  What you see is what you get.

In politics, the voter can choose between self-centred Tory, quisling Lib-Dem, opportunistic UKIP or Labour.

When you have examined all the alternatives, the least-bad is probably the correct choice.

Agreed. But that depends on what you think is the least-bad choice.

A realistic Tory, (lib-dems no longer count), opportunistic UKIP or profligate Labour. That's another way of looking at the least-bad choice by some.

£10 minimum wage is idealistic, accompanied by higher unemployment, or higher costs in either prices or benefit costs, etc. Great when the country can afford it, disaster when it can't. We lost our share of world markets by over pricing due to extortionate wage demands in past decades.

You have the rich and always will have as more people become millionaires, either by hard work or sheer luck.

Agreed the Tories have made some choices with which I disagree, such as cutting benefits to those in real need and the NHS

The workshy I have no time for. And the people for whom a car 'is a necessity', though they only use it for short journeys, then complain about the cost of running it. People who 'need' the latest TV, gadgets, cigarettes or beer when their family need food.

Still, I wait to see what Labour come up with before considering my options for 2015.

I think you have not grasped the the seriousness of the situation trevor2539, while the employers get away with paying CRAP wages the Welfare bill goes up for the tax payer by having to pay WORKING TAX CREDITS ECT,

At the same time the employers are getting EXORBITANT salaries while the owners of these companies are making millions in PROFIT but its there workers that earn this money for the paper shuffling pretend I'm working hard TWATS.

I will be voting Labour in May 2015 because I believe the Labour party will not treat the people of the UK in such a cruel nasty way this Tory led gov't has treated the sick disabled & vulnerable.

I'm well aware of the situation. You are talking of big businesses which make up a very small minority of companies in this country.
99% of businesses are SME's with 14.5 million employees and a turnover of £1.6m. Do you suggest these bosses are exhorbitantly paid. Way out in front are the 'micro' firms with less than 10 employees.
Larger businesses, by far fewer, have about 10m employees.