This is just my opinion for what it’s worth, not based on any research or inside knowledge or anything other than what I see and hear of Ed Miliband in the media,as well as, on social media like Twitter.
My title speaks for itself. No matter that polling puts Labour and Conservatives virtually neck and neck over the last couple of years one of the main reasons stopping Labour getting a real lead down south, in my opinion, is Ed Miliband.
A lot of people laugh at the weird way he eats, or some of the unflattering photos that appear in the papers or online but really it is far more than that. I wouldn’t think that many people won’t vote for Miliband because he looks unflattering eating a bacon roll.
One of the main issues is that voters don’t know what he really stands for if he stands for anything at all; they don’t see any real difference between Ed Miliband and David Cameron. Both appear as out of touch as each other when it comes to the day-to-day lives of ‘ordinary’ people across the UK. Now a lot of that will be down to the fact that we are very poorly served by the media in the UK, and in particular Scotland, so it is difficult for any politician to get a fair hearing in an unfriendly media environment. Ed Miliband however just does not command the stage.
He appears to struggle to make a decision; the recent disclosure from Johan Lamont that she was not allowed to speak against the bedroom tax because Ed Miliband couldn’t make up his mind for a whole year really sums up some of the difficulties that he faces. Ed Miliband comes across as someone who has led a very privileged life, who is no doubt intelligent in an academic way but that intelligence comes with zero real life experience or common sense. He has surrounded himself with a very poor shadow cabinet that results in poor advice for Ed himself and absolutely no chance of confidence from the electorate down south and a dying allegiance from their once stronghold that is Scotland.
I do think that it wouldn’t really matter who led the Labour Party right now as it is a party that has lost it’s sense of direction, that no longer knows what it actually stands for and has taken people for granted for far too long. Labour no longer represents the left, the working class or the poor. They now represent themselves, the wealthy upper middle class onwards and power for power sake. Throw Ed Miliband into the mix and no matter how many Ed Miliband clones within the Labour Party sing his praises he just comes across as unelectable so therefor will be seen as unelectable and can’t win.
Labour however have no real alternative to Ed Miliband and while it may be a hung parliament next year it will be in spite of Ed Miliband rather than because of him, voters down south have no credible alternative such as the SNP, so many will stick with Labour. However, Labour should not take any comfort from that and neither should Ed Miliband. As noted on Wings Over Scotland, it’s maybe time for the Labour Party to just fade away now and take Ed with them.
grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com 
Totally agree, “red Ed” comes across as more blue than red but, that’s the “new” labour way.
“I wouldn’t think that many people won’t vote for Miliband because he looks unflattering eating a bacon roll.”, I’m not so sure; you just have to look at the abuse Mr Salmond gets, from certain quartets. His weight, demeanour, looks and even his childlessness ffs. Even though ” wee Eck” could wipe the floor, with any of Westminsters “big hitters”.
Labour have lost their core support, not so much lost them as abandoned them, to pursue middle class votes in the SE of England. It is indeed time they quietly died a death. They had a chance to be reborn, in an independent Scotland but; they chose party over nation….hell mend them.
Jim
Jim
I totally agree that Labour have abandoned their core support to seek power. They have went from being a movement to a professional political machine mostly infected by drones who have no life experience and are just part of the very elite that is causing the misery. I appreciate not all Labour is like that but certainly their front bench are just the very same elite who went to private school/university with the other elites in the tory party and the media.
Just all very sad.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Ed is a pretty good example of a shiny new Labour politician, he is entirely bereft of substance. He’s also weak, not because he looks it (although he does) but because he actually is.
I always remember the interview he did where he just kept repeating himself over and over again. It was about strike action and he was like a tape recorder. It was (is) bizarre.
No substance what-so-ever. He’s like a really shit Manchurian Candidate.
Pa
I remember that interview, it was just so sad that he could not deviate from the script prepared by some future Ed or Edwina Labour researcher. Your correct that there is just nothing there, he is a bit like Charles Windsor, Miliband comes across like he was born to lead Labour and has a sense of entitlement that alienates him from the very people that Labour profess to stand up for. Of course we know they don’t and as more and more people understand that we might actually start to see some shoots of change.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Bruce,
Starting to feel sorry on Ed, everything he does is turned into something huge. Even eating his bacon sandwich, I think it is just a case of good photo timing in some cases. But as a leader he is pretty useless, I mean, vote labour and we will continue the tory spending programme. Well wtf is the point in electing them?
Neil Findly is actually left wing and socialist, I hope he is elected leader of Scottish Labour, as I think he will actually begin to make Labour Labour again and stand up for Scotland.
Sod
Sod
Not convinced with Neil Findlay to be honest. On Scotnight he started well but within two minutes it was just another anti SNP rant for 10. People are sick of that now I think, it’s no longer the politics that people want to see as it achieves nothing and the SNP record overall isn’t bad. Miliband was just the wrong choice full stop. When I look at him I see an average back bencher. Cameron is the worst PM along with Brown ever yet Miliband can’t score any hits. Labour can’t win a majority, the best they can hope for is keeping it close but once campaigning starts their lack of policy ideas will kill them.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Fair enough, I think Findlay would be a step in the right direction. Miliband won’t win a majority, but I don’t think anyone can discount him being PM in a coalition government.
In fairness to Brown, he was in at a bad time so we can never really see what he would have been like in a good time so to speak but I agree he was rotten.
Time will tell I guess.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Yeah, Ed’s problem isn’t that he can’t do normal things without looking weird, it’s that he tries to do normal things without looking weird – and fails. It’s symptomatic of a more general problem which leads to a feeling that he’s not a leader, and that’s why people won’t vote for Labour, not because he can’t eat a bacon sandwich properly.
There are daft photos of Salmond, but he isn’t defined by them because he’s a true leader. The reason Miliband keeps getting snapped in these weird poses is because he’s being told by PR people to do things to appear normal. It implies a lack of self-confidence, which is not what people look for in leaders (rightly or wrongly). If he doesn’t think the real Ed Miliband is good enough to be elected, then why should voters?
And then there’s Ed Balls. Miliband apologists try to claim Miliband’s on the left, only for Ed Balls to announce policies that clearly aren’t. So does Miliband agree with these policies (thereby putting him on the right), or is he just incapable of keeping his shadow chancellor in check (in which case he’s a weak leader)? Either way, it’s not convincing, and so people won’t vote for him.
If an inability to look like a dork when doing things was Ed’s only problem, he’d be head and shoulders above 99% of politicians, and the public would vote accordingly. But it isn’t, and so they won’t. And it’s Labour’s own fault, because it was clear years ago that Miliband was not Prime Ministerial material.
Doug
Good point about Miliband not being a leader, you are so spot on. He is not a leader in any shape or form, he doesn’t instill confidence at all. I also agree with you that Labour Policy, the few of them there are, are not left wing or left of centre policies at all. He is also hamstrung by a poor shadow cabinet, Osbourne is a clown with no idea of what he is doing but the only person who comes across worse is Balls. Politics are a real mess just now and the really sad thing is Scotland will have a Government imposed on it from the South, what did no voters not understand or do they care so little.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce