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Great job by Ed. somehow overtaken David, the odds-on favourite from the outset. I think this is good for the party because Ed is keen to move out of the New Labour bubble and try something new, which will probably not be good enough to beat David Cameron for a long time, but will at least freshen up the political landscape. I think that the Tories are pretty safe as long as Cameron remains Prime Minister - many of his cuts do have to be made and he is an excellent politician and speaker with a strong cabinet. but speaking as a member of the Labour party and a left-winger, unsure of just how far I lean (or not), these are exciting times for the party.
the relationship between David and Ed seems pretty chilled, although the manner in which Ed muscled in and stole David's glory was gutsy and could have annoyed the older Milliband. I hope enough of David Milliband's supporters in the party understand that this is the time to trust a leader for at least a few years, because since Labour lost the election, following the party has been decidedly uneventful and frustrating without any particular direction being taken, and somebody new does deserve a chance, whoever that might be.
even if the leader changes with every election as could well happen in these power-hungry times, that is sometimes no worse a set of circumstances than sticking with the same bloke. in terms of the Tories, Hague and Howard given a few years each were actually not that bad, they were just hindered by the lingering and deep unpopularity of their party - and the dominance of Blair, who at the peak of his powers remains one of the finest politicians I have seen. Hague and Howard both got some good reviews, and contributed to the eventual regain of power under Cameron. IDS was a joke of course, but we don't talk about him.
Diane Abbot lost her vote ages ago.
She had appeared on lbc radio the other day and put her foot in it.
She was asked what her thoughts were on the recession. what would she do if she was to lay off anyone. Dianes answer to this was to lay off the blackman. Asked why she came bac with a piful response that they are not strong enough to build up their career ladder.
Now to me that is an insult and a racial comment yes your thinking whats going on in her head. She is a black woman if no-one knw this.
Ed Miliband is a Jewish, If he gets elected in the next election then he will definetely join in the war against Iran with USA. He will protect Israel and its interests. There will be no hope for Palestine.
on the hand, If Shahid Malik won the Dewsbury election this year then he could have stood in the Leadership contest but do you think he would have go the backing from the MPs and the Trade Unions or he would have been just labelled as a hopeful Muslim/Asian candidate? IMO Shahid Malik is certainly better than Ed Miliband and am not saying this because he's a Muslim and Ed is jewish, its because Shahid Malik is a better communicator and negotiater.
More than 700 new members of the party since the leadership announcement, that's a new member ever 108 seconds.
You do know that both Milibands are very vocal on setting up a two-state/creation of Palestine ?
Ed Miliband has fuelled speculation that his brother David is about to bow out of frontline politics after being defeated in the Labour leadership election.
The new Labour leader said in a radio interview that Britain had "not heard the last" from his brother, who is expected to make an announcement about his future later today.
David Miliband left the party's annual conference in Manchester after his brother delivered the keynote speech as leader yesterday.
So when his party and brother need him most, David is going to take his ball home and quit the shadow cabinet.
Nice one David, show us what you're made of.
You could argue that by not being part of the set up, he is eliminating all the 'brother tension struggle' headlines & potential for conflict in the long run - as characterised by the Blair/Brown relationship
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Red Ed, the best thing that could have ever happened to Dave and the Tories. Hope his tenure as Labour leader continues for a long time.
Miliband running out of time to beat the odds of an election win
Labour figures say leader must ‘raise his game’ and define what he stands for as poll reveals his personal rating is falling
Time is running out for Ed Miliband to turn around his personal ratings if Labour is to win the next general election, according to the latest "poll of polls" for The Independent.
After nine months as the Labour leader, Mr Miliband is more unpopular than Iain Duncan Smith was at the same stage of his leadership of the Conservative Party in 2002. Mr Duncan Smith was ousted by his party the following year, before he got the chance to fight a general election.
Only 34 per cent of people are satisfied with the way Mr Miliband is doing his job, while 48 per cent of them are dissatisfied. His net rating of minus 14 points is worse than Mr Duncan Smith's overall rating of minus 9 points in June 2002.
John Curtice, a Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University who compiled the "poll of polls", found that Mr Miliband's personal ratings had dropped to a new low among all four polling companies included in his study: ComRes, Ipsos MORI, ICM and YouGov.
Ed Miliband's leadership suffers another blow today with an exclusive Independent on Sunday poll showing only his brother can secure Labour a lead over the Conservatives.
With Ed in charge, voters are split, putting Labour neck and neck with the Tories on 38 per cent. But when respondents were asked by ComRes how they would vote with alternative Labour leaders, David Miliband was three points ahead of David Cameron, on 38 points to 35. It threatens to reopen the deep wounds from when Ed beat his older brother to become Labour leader in September 2010.
Ed Miliband's personal ratings have also slumped below those of Nick Clegg – down to -35 per cent, compared with -32 for the Lib Dem leader. Mr Cameron's personal rating has leapt from -25 in December to -9 points.
Mr Miliband is now the least popular party leader; just 36 per cent of Labour voters think he is turning out to be good. Of the Lib Dems, 47 per cent back Nick Clegg, and 74 per cent of Tories approve of Mr Cameron as PM.
The Conservatives have forged a five-point lead over Labour, according to the latest Guardian/ICM poll, suggesting David Cameron would stand on the verge of an outright majority if an election were held now.
The Tories are on 40%, up three percentage points from December, while Labour has drifted down one to 35%. The Liberal Democrats are on 16%, up one.
The Tories' standing is their highest since before the general election in the Guardian/ICM series – they last stood at 40% in March 2010. Their lead is the biggest since the eight-point edge they enjoyed in June 2010, a few weeks after Cameron moved into Downing Street.
The result will add to the pressure on Ed Miliband, who has endured a difficult few weeks amid whispering about his performance and rows with union leaders over his attempt to harden his party's line on the deficit. Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite, attacked Miliband after the Labour leader and Ed Balls backed the public sector pay freeze and signalled they could not currently promise to reverse any of the coalition's spending cuts.
The poll will provide welcome relief for Cameron as he braces himself for a battle with the House of Lords over welfare reform after the government suffered its fifth defeat in the upper house on the welfare reform bill .
Even after a pathetic Tory budget Labour are humiliated in Bradford West.
So how long does Ed have left before he's kicked out?
The optimism amongst many in the party about Ed's appointment seems laughable now, I am personally embarrassed by my prediction that he would do well. Public opinion of the Coalition has been so negative that any half-decent politician would have pwned Cameron and be on the road to a Labour win. Even with Ed, the polls are level![]()
They've picked the wrong Miliband haven't they ?
Even after donor scandal, pasty-gate, fuel tanker crisis, all in a space of this week - Labour STILL cannot capitalise !
Listening to David Miliband, on Question Time and other appearances, he is far more convincing than Ed, whose nasally voice and poorly defined policies is hardly inspiring in terms of a leader.
The only time Ed Miliband has caught the public mood was with the phone-hacking scandal. He should stick to that anti-establishment tone, bashing the millionaires as we have seen from him occasionally (although I assume Ed Balls has had a large role in that) but I don't see him as a future PM.
If there is economic growth and falling unemployment by the time of the next elections in 2015, then I think the Tories will remain in power, perhaps without a coalition partner. Even after all these scandals, they still have a good chance of being re-elected in 2015 - what a damning indictment on the shambles of an 'opposition' in this country.
True, its a shame that all parties now cater towards the centre ground, and there are very little ideological differences.The last Labour leader worth voting for was Michael Foot, possibly John Smith had he not sadly passed away. Kinnock started the erosion of the party and Blair finally destroyed it, turning it into a British version of the American democratic party. We now have a parliament full of the centre-right/right-wing with no difference between the two main parties or the pathetic liberal democrat party,the few honorable exceptions in the house have no real power to influence policy.
Men like Bevan, Benn and foot would be hounded out of the party these days as extremeist and unrealistic, thoroughly depressing.
^Aye, Galloway would be spot on if he didn't speak far too many brutal truths about Israel and the Middle East...the British people prefer the likes of Douglas Murray![]()
“It is the destructive behaviour of one high profile trade unionist.
“One of the things about stepping down is that you can say things in public that so many people in the Labour Party only say in private.
“So whether it is in Scotland or in the contest to come in the UK, we cannot have our leaders selected or deselected by the grudges and grievances of one prominent man.
“The leader of the Scottish Labour Party doesn’t serve at the grace of Len McCluskey, and the next leader of the UK Labour Party should not be picked by Len McCluskey.”
"McCluskey and the Unite leadership are the kind of people who can back the wrong horse in a one horse race."
Labour are still suffering from messing up the country from last time around, the illegal Iraq War and letting in so many immigrants. I don't trust them one bit.
If you work hard and want to actually achieve something in your life then the tories are better.
I'll tell the first meeting of the Conservative Cabinet, "We are the real party of working people, putting hardworking taxpayers first."
It's encouraging news that unemployment is at a seven year low - we are delivering as the real party of working people.
Labour is perceived to be too right wing for Scotland and too left wing for England. The next leader needs to find a middle ground that can appeal to both regions of the UK. UKIP also finished 2nd in many of the traditional Labour heartlands in the North and could be well placed for 2020 to displace some Labour MPs there. Labour also needs to reach out to middle England and dispel the notion that its anti-business.
Personally I'd - Keep the 45p rate of tax and drop policy of going to 50p. Promote the idea that Labour will not tax you to death if you aspire to be a big earner.
- Scrap the Mansion Tax and instead charge a higher rate of stamp duty for foreign buyers. This was an ill-judged policy that doesn't raise that much revenue.
- Do something about the housing crisis, make it easier for councils to borrow to build new affordable housing.
- Call for an EU referendum in 2016, not 2017 and pledge to repatriate more powers from Brussels. Address peoples' concerns about immigration which is Labour's big weakness.
- CLEARLY spell out any cuts to public spending, Labour were far too vague at this election about cuts and stuck to the vague notion of "balancing current spending" which would've meant Labour would've had to borrow more. Instead match the Tory commitment to getting the overall budget into surplus. That way you alleviate people's concerns that Labour are fiscally irresponsible (despite Labour running more surpluses in government than the Tories ever did in 18 years).
The next leader needs to have some fire in their belly too. This slick corporate PR officer image that modern day politicians have just doesn't appeal to voters, they want someone authentic and not some Oxbridge educated metropolitan elitist.
Andy Burnham fits that bill, despite being Oxbridge educated but I don't know if he'll appeal to Middle England. Yvette Cooper is devoid of charisma. Maybe they should skip a generation, as Burnham and Cooper have the baggage of the Blair-Brown era having served in their Cabinets, and go for Liz Kendall - and promote the idea of the first Labour female PM.
Either way Labour faces a big struggle to get back into government.
Why we are endorsing Liz Kendall for the Labour leadership
Chuka Umunna, Emma Reynolds, Stephen Twigg and Jonathan Reynolds - Chuka Umunna's leadership team - explain why they're backing Liz Kendall's campaign for the Labour leadership.
In this time of change our party must move beyond its comfort zone and find new ways of realising its age-old goals of equality and freedom.
The Labour Party’s greatest strength has always been our commitment to a society that is fairer and freer, more equal and more democratic. Our mission has always been to apply that commitment to the circumstances of our time. Today, when those circumstances are changing increasingly rapidly and old assumptions are breaking down, that task is tougher, and more pressing, than ever.
It is no longer simply enough to get into power and, from Whitehall, pull the old social-democratic levers: tax rates and regulation, welfare payments and tax credits. They have their place but these alone are inadequate to the task of delivering a fair, united society at a time when technology cycles are speeding up, new economic competitors are on the rise and the make-up and identity of our country are evolving. Living up to our age-old mission demands a willingness to grapple with the economic, social and global challenges as they are before us now.
Our movement faces three main, interlocking economic questions that are much more acute now than in the past: How to deliver excellent public services at a time when money is tight? How to harness the technological changes that are disrupting established industries and destroying jobs to create new, better opportunities? And how to remain competitive in a time of globalisation, paying our way in the world over the coming decades?
The answers, too, are interlocking. They include a more creative and strategic relationship between the state and business, a much better use of government’s convening power to channel investment into R&D and a genuinely life-long education system. The only sustainable foundation for Britain’s future prosperity is better productivity and a confident, adaptive workforce - not the private consumption and house price inflation on which our economy has too often been based in the past.
Our movement also faces newly urgent social questions. Building solidarity between different segments of the country is a bigger task today than it was in 1997. The very coherence of the United Kingdom is at risk. Regional identity is becoming more pronounced. In an increasingly diverse society, integration of different communities is ever-more essential. Our ageing population puts new pressures on public services and on the pact between the generations.
As the party that has always stood for a cohesive society, we in Labour must lead the charge in transforming the institutions of our country to keep up with evolving realities. That means reshaping the state: moving towards a more federal United Kingdom, devolving power and money to cities and regions, reforming our electoral system and political bodies to reflect the more open and pluralistic country they represent. And it means a new approach to public services: integrating health, mental health and social care services, starting at “what works” and putting the principles of prevention and innovation at the heart of the welfare state.
As the internationalists of British politics, those who see responsibilities and opportunities beyond our own borders, we in Labour must also champion a new approach to the world stage. Britain is no longer a recent superpower with an automatic claim to a place at the top table of nations, but a country with a moderately large population that must earn its right to that place. As CNN’s Fareed Zakaria wrote last week, Britain “has essentially resigned as a global power” under David Cameron - but is “even now, a country with the talent, history and capacity to shape the international order.”
So let our party lead this argument for a smart and engaged use of Britain’s vast soft power, its military expertise and specialisms and the versatility and reach that come from its unique network of alliances. We should, for example, fight to stay in the EU not just out of economic, transactional reasons but as part of a bigger, emotional, fundamentally optimistic vision of Britain’s future: as a country that chooses prosperity, security and geopolitical influence over an isolation that (as Zakaria concludes) would be bad not just for us, but for the world as a whole.
The job for the next Labour leader is to weave these imperatives, economic, social and global, into a credible national story of a country proud of its history and confident of owning the future. A vision of a Britain in which all can get on, whose citizens are financially secure and in control of their lives and happiness - and are, collectively, secure and effective in the wider world. A vision both rooted in the party’s eternal values and alive to the complexities and realities of the context in which we must now realise them.
For us, our next leader must get this vision right. On all these big subjects, Liz Kendall has asked the tough questions and started to chart a course to the answers. She has been courageous in challenging conventional wisdom. She has no compunction in moving Labour beyond our comfort zone and is determined to build a team ready to chart a route forward. This is exactly what our party needs and that is why we are nominating her to be the next leader of the Labour Party.
Chuka Umunna, Labour MP for Streatham & Shadow Business Secretary
Emma Reynolds, Labour MP for Wolverhampton North East & Shadow Communities Secretary
Jonathan Reynolds, Labour MP for Stalybridge and Hyde & Shadow Climate Change Minister
Stephen Twigg, Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby & Shadow Justice Minister