to think ed milliband is lying about spending 70-80 a week on food

[sazham2]

No way does someone that is a millionaire and earns about 7-8k a week with a family of 4 spend 70-80.

In touch Ed claimed that his family of four spent “probably £70, £80 a week on groceries a week, probably more than that” when hijacked with the perfectly reasonable question on ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

order-order.com/2014/05/20/mili-onaire-eds-cost-of-living-crisis/

Have they got a lot of rabbits the Milliband s?

It's very easy to spend that amount. We spend around that a week and buy only organic, fresh produce. Roughly:

£20 meat and fish ( chicken, salmon, sea bass, steak)
£20 dairy. Milk, greek yogurt, eggs etc
£30 veg and fruit
£10 odd other bits ie oil one week, rice the other etc

People's food bills only increase dramatically when they start adding processed meats, crisps, frozen stuff, snacks, drinks, etc etc. If people are eating meat/ fish, carbs and veg it's fine.

We eat out at least once a week dinner, once lunch, once breakfast. Which would add say £20 a week if eating at home so £100 ish a week

Perhaps a few of those vegetables are in fact pork pies?

Way to make it worse!

Unfortunately the advisors are probably not best placed to spin this.

They should all keep a sensible down to Earth non-sexist, non-racist, non-homophobic, non-ageist, non-disablist mum on retainer to guide them on these issues. She can have a designated mobile phone and give them a line or phrase to redeem themselves!

iK8 that's a brilliant post.

I would respect politicians much more if they would have the guts to say to journalists that: (i) they didn't know what the weekly spend was as they never did it; and (ii) their weekly spend was irrelevant; and then argue the kind of issues people are talking about on this thread.

As it is, Ed stands exposed not just for lying, but inept lying, and even more inept spinning to try and get himself out of the fix the inept lying landed him in.

I am not sure we would respect politicians more if they stated they didnt have a clue regarding the weekly shop. Maybe he was put on the spot and just blurted something out.

He is a terrible leader for Labour. He looks like a rabbit in headlights and as far as I know has never had a job out of politics. He had almost a Communist upbringing but in true Communist style did it in the lap of luxury.

Stabbing his brother in the back when going for the leadership was awful. Still, he got the position - can you really see him as a world leader.. I cant. He has got his side kick Ed Balls who could well cost him the election, that and the fact he has little idea on how to run the country. Look what happened last time they were in power.

How would he know?

Doesn't his nanny/housekeeper do the tesco online order?

He had almost a Communist upbringing but in true Communist style did it in the lap of luxury.

Yes he went to a very expensive comp.

Ralph Miliband grew up in poverty, and succeeded against almost impossible odds. As a lecturer he was in a position to buy a house in what was then a very scuzzy area of London. That's secure middle-class comfort, not lap of luxury.

And Miliband Snr totally denounced communism after the invasion of Hungary in 1956.

The huge advantage that the Miliband brothers had was very very motivated and intellectual parents, first generation immigrants who'd survived extermination, and who were driven to give their kids the best possible upbringing as well as exposure to a huge range of political thought.

But not a lot of luxury.

Uh, no. They're spending way more than 80/week.

We live in London and have moderate to high incomes. Our fortnightly online shop including cleaning products and 'nice' toilet roll is around £90 and we intersperse that with a weekly shop for about £40-50 comprising M & S offers on meat and orange juice and subsidised meals at work. My parents didn't have a lot so I'm not used to spending a billion pounds on food and my Mum taught me how to reuse leftovers. Admittedly our baby hasn't arrived yet but I'd say we probably average £60 a week on food now and we do throw quite a bit away.

If his children are eating breakfast and lunch at school which are included in school fees (no doubt), he's having subsidised meals at the HOP canteen and his wife is likewise having subsidised meals at work (on average my lunch at work is £2 a day for breakfast and a cooked meal) then it's totally feasible.

And I vote Tory for Gods sake....

I suspect this is more EM not having a bloody clue about how much his family spend on groceries is per week and plucking a figure out of the air.

I spend about half that...on myself and DS plus three cats. I have to watch the budget too...no something he needs to concern himself with. I seriously doubt he ever does the food shopping....even online.

The thing is, as someone else said, this electioneering stuff is harder than it looks. Imagine if he'd airily said 'Oh I don't know, someone else shops for me and I don't need to keep an eye on the family budget because the missus and I are high earners'; he'd be toast within seconds and posters on Mumsnet would be saying 'good grief what an idiot'.

These stories are easy meat for lazy journos but shed very little light on anything IMO.

What's the betting he'd cribbed up on the price of milk, the price of a burger in McDonald's, the price of a day in a private nursery etc etc but just didn't have 'price of a weekly shop' on the spreadsheet his aides had done for him. It's all so tedious and tells us absolutely zilch about anything of any importance.

He's a other clueless eejit. And a backstabbing snake in the grass.

I never have understood, and never will understand, what he did wrong wrt David. He thought he'd be a better leader and they believed in slightly different approaches. He stood, he won.

I've got an older brother and if someone said I shouldn't go for my dream job because DB fancied it too I'd tell them to jog on tbh

As it is, Ed stands exposed not just for lying, but inept lying, and even more inept spinning to try and get himself out of the fix the inept lying landed him in He isn't even a sliterthy snake, wiley and cunning he is just pathetic.

He had almost a Communist upbringing but in true Communist style did it in the lap of luxury

I though the less of Dave Milliband over the leadership contest, actually. Expecting Ed to stand aside for him just because he was the older brother. You can't both become senior figures in a political party then suddenly say, 'Oh stuff party rules, back to family rules, I'm older, you're stuffed.'

I never have understood, and never will understand, what he did wrong wrt David.

Exactly. If he stabbed him, he stabbed him square in the front. And no more than he stabbed Burnham or Abbott.

I can't work out if it's because David was seen as the natural inheritor by the press (Heir to Blair etc) or because David was the elder and had some sort of priority, which is ridiculous.

Imagine if the Eagle twins were fighting for the leadership. Would the press expect the one who popped out 10 minutes ahead of the other to have a natural right to succeed?

Yes he went to a very expensive comp Labours Eton, attracting high minded middle class lefties.

I don't care how much they spend on their groceries. They are all high achievers married to women who are also high earners.

What is the point of being ambitious and having a successful career if you can't shop where you like and have a nice bottle of wine when you want one?.

I have relatives who earn six figure salaries, they work very hard for it and deserve to spend it how they see fit.

Heir to Blair Makes me think of the Boys from Brazil. Or The Omen...

I don't care how much they spend on their groceries Neither do I.
But I do care whether he has any bloody idea on what people are spending out there in this crisis he says he is going to get tough on.

I dont care if he sends his maid to harrods, but I want to know he knows that people are struggling to put food on a plate.

I don't think having an encylopaedic knowledge of the average shop means you'd necessarily have a clue about what to do about the cost of living crisis (to accept Labour's framing for a moment).

I know exactly what I spend on shopping but there's no way I should be put in charge of running the country.

The whole thing is a massive red herring. If you asked Ed (or any of the other party leaders) what they thought should be done about taxes, wages, benefits and welfare payments etc, they'd be able to tell you. That's the stuff that actually matters. But the public gets bored and wanders off when they start answering those questions, so we end up with this utter nonsense instead.

Labours Eton, attracting high minded middle class lefties.

Yes, how dare they practice what they preach and send their kids to state school.

Haverstock is a genuine state school, a comprehensive in a very mixed area of North London. It's nothing like the 'state' schools Gove/Blair etc used. It had really dedicated teachers, but it was pretty gritty in the 70s. This article on it basically describes it as not the roughest in the area but a bit crap and tough.

Other than Oona King I can't think of anyone else from Labour who's been there.

I have the feeling that the Eton tag was dreamed up by the Mail when faced with the only party leader who was educated in the state sector.

Ha! He probably does. He and his family probably only have to pay for one or two meals a week themselves, though! Events, business lunches, expense fraud, you know...