Ed Miliband...

[MrsArchieTheInventor]

I'm a Labour voter and a socialist at heart, but I just can't take Ed seriously. He doesn't sound sincere and like he truly believes in what he's scripted to say and I have great difficulty in imagining him as PM. Ed Balls-up is the same but for different reasons. He just comes across as a smug pompous twat, and I'm saying that from personal experience of having met the man. Lasagna parties or not, you can't suddenly stop being an ignorant bellend just because your campaign director has decided you're going to have a different image.

I would honestly struggle to single out a potential Labour leader who could lead the party into an election victory. And unfortunately that includes David Miliband (living in Ed's shadow) and Yvette Cooper (also living in Ed's shadow).

Can you name ANY politician EVER who sounds sincere and like they truley believe what they are scripted to say? I have yet to hear or see one that I have any faith in at all, from any party.

I admires Jihn Hutton. I didn't agree with him, in the main, by put he always struck me as someone with principles and someone who stuck to them.

(And any Labour MP reputed to have called Brown "a fucking disaster" as early as 2006 does seem to have their head screwed on better than most).

I agree with the O/P about the two Ed's. Unfortunately, the reds don't have a huge reserve of untarnished talent to fall back on - even John Hutton is a member of the House of Lords, making a Prime Ministerial bid unlikely. I believe that had they lived, Labour could have reformed themselves around either Mo Mowlam or Robin Cook. If I had to pick anyone, I?d go for Alistair Darling who, despite being Chancellor at perhaps the worst time in modern history, behaved with dignity and restraint despite being consistently undermined by his hapless PM. I hope history is kinder to Darling and wish that the bone headed Brown had listened to him a bit more. We would still have a financial crisis but Browns scorched earth policy wouldn't have exacerbated it so much.

One of the obvious problems facing Labour is the schism between the Blairites and the Brownites. This showed itself in the election that the Brownite Ed Milliband won (at the expense of his Blairite brother, David) and explains why Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper are so highly regarded by certain elements of the party to the bewilderment of the wider public at large.

Labour need a compromise candidate who can unite the two halves of the party (rather than just buy off the traditionalists with election success as Blair managed) around a new left wing philosophy which doesn't involve spending ever increasing amounts of money, whilst at the same time appealing to the public at large with a message that is economically credible. I think that this is an impossible task for anyone and that Labours best hope lies in waiting until the electorate are pig-sick of the Tories. Last time they used this tactic it took 18 years for them to win an election.

Perhaps another solution that should be considered may be the breaking up of the Labour party into the traditionalist, largely socialist, wing and the moderate, centrist and social democrat wing. Perhaps now is the time for a new SDP?

As a leader Ed is pretty damn poor. His performance on TV (and that's what we're all judging him on) are very poor and is totally outclassed by Cameron. Like MrsArchie says, he's obviously sticking to scripted soundbites and unable to vary.

Labour under his leadership now for over a year still have no real credible policies. Yes, there's the temporary VAT cut which is rubbish really. The last one barely had any effect on the public in real terms but lost the treasury millions. Oh and the often repeated 'one off' banker's bonus tax which should be very popular with the general public except it's a tax which seems to pay for whatever the popular message of the day is. A while back on MN it was to pay for new housing, now recently it was to pay for youth unemployment.

Unfortunately they are giving the impression that they still want to spend spend spend and as a result are simply not credible.

The coalition should be about as popular as a fart in a lift around about now but thanks to Labour's own incompetence unless something changes, they are still in with a fair chance of a second term. Well the Conservatives are....not so sure about Lib Dems!

And for that debacle, the buck has to stop with Ed Miliband.

I liked Alan Johnson and thought it such a shame that he resigned due to marriage problems as he was looking like an obvious leader.

As many have said, Ed Milliband is a disaster, I detest Ed Balls and his insipid wife Yvette Cooper. I quite like Harriett Harman but I think she is a bit Marmite...and I can't think of anyone else! They have got no chance in the next election.

I think having a "disposable" leader, which Ed M is proving to be, could actually be quite useful just to be at the helm whist the party reviews its ethos and policies. There is however no sign of a set of policies emerging. I understand that full costed policies might only be formulated closer to the end of the term of this Parliament, but I would have expected more of a sense of direction by now.

I completely agree that the 'bonus tax' shennanigans are not helping them at all. Unfunded spending is not a viable approach. And they appear to have nothing - and no-one - else on offer.

Elabella1401 YUCK! I'd rather have Brown or Blair back than Harpy Harperson.

While she may appeal to women, she would struggle to fill a phone box with male supporters.

I think Marmite is an understatement!!!

Harriet Harman is awful, they are all awful.

I think it is dreadful that they haven't come up with one clear policy. At the moment it just feels like if Labour got elected they would rush to undo as much as possible of what the Coalition has put in place so far, and hang the cost. Which makes me very nervous.

They really need to get rid of Ed soon, so that the next leader will have time to bed in before the elections. I am sure he is a clever bloke and his heart is in the right place, but he has zero charisma and in today's media-driven world, that is a mssive disadvantage.

I know he is apparently to blame for all that is wrong with the world these days but I liked Tony Blair....I realise I am asking for hate messages saying this but I honestly don't think he gets the credit he deserves. He was a great leader IMO & certainly head and shoulders above this crowd of useless articles. Cameron & co are having a field day! To those who remember Spitting Image...I can only imagine what they would have made of Ed!!

Tony Ben was an MP I respected, he spoke his mind and would have made a great leader of the proper Labour party.

Can't really think of anyone else tho, Mark Thomas should start his own party, he'd get my vote.

Sir Anthony Wedgewood Benn was a lot poster, richer and out of touch than the current crop. No thanks.

David Lammy is on the up...but don't think he's quite there yet..

I actually liked David Milliband a lot and was sure Labour was in with a good chance of victory under his leadership but when he was defeated there was no hope for them.

"The coalition should be about as popular as a fart in a lift around about now but thanks to Labour's own incompetence unless something changes, they are still in with a fair chance of a second term. Well the Conservatives are....not so sure about Lib Dems!"

Totally agree. However hated the Cameron/Osborne duo is, there is no other side that presents credible policies to take us out of the mess we are in. I am for sure voting Cons having voted LibDems last time round.

Surely the rule is... never ever pick a party leader with a lithp.

You know mumblesmum I would have agreed with you if not one example - Lenin had a speech impediment that would would make anybody else sound ridiculous, yet he was the most successful revolutionary of the XX c (not that I agree with his ideology, but his "success" in screwing up the whole country for the best part of 80 years cannot be denied). What was his secret?

oops, must learn to proof-read

They are all awful, and Scottish labour is just as bad. We are having local elections in may and Glasgow city council, which has been Labour since Noah was a boy, is looking like it will go to SNP. The party is imploding. The only person who I think has the intellect and personality - but perhaps not the gravitas yet - is Douglas Alexander.

The Eds are hopeless and ineffectual.

The two Eds are obnoxious in their own way. Although I dislike Labour (and Tories too for good measure!) now people like Mo Mowlam and Robin Cook are gone there is something greasy about Ed Balls. He talks over people rather than debate and doesn't seem to really connect behind the eyes. His wife is no better.

They definitely picked the wrong Milliband - Ed seems the type that would tattle-tale to the teacher behind classmates back! I'm positive the unions felt he'd be an excellent puppet. Hoho.

No one can surely want to see either of them hold any position over governing anyone?

What about Andy Burnham? From what I've seen on QT and in interviews he does seem the best of a poor lot.

I like the Millibands. Really don't like Ed Balls.

Ed Balls really is gross with his sweaty red face and rolling eyes. He comes across as really boorish. Tbh I don't know if anything he says makes sense as I just switch off immediately he starts talking.

Well I was a bit unsure about Ed Milliband at first but I think he is improving all the time. Did you all not watch his response to the budget? I think he well and truly humiliated Osbourne and Cameron.
If you want a leader all charm and superficial charisma like Tony Blair (leading us into expensive wars that America wanted) then carry on running the genuine Ed Milliband down. I think we should all get behind him.

Agree with kerstina. I like Ed Miliband. He has grown on me. He is by far the best person that Labour has got, because he is genuine, not arrogant and likeable. Likeability is a very important factor when it comes to popularity with the public, which is why David Cameron is so popular with the public.

I think the media has played a part in unfairly knocking Ed. But the way that he has dealt with all teh knocks has been amazing. He has remained calm and polite throughout. He got a bit of a pasting on a phone-in show recently, but he took it in his stride with great dignity and without showing any anger.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111078/Ed-Miliband-branded-unelectable-laughing-stock-BBC-Radio-5-Live-phone-in.html

I think it is because he is confident in his positiona nd his opinions. He doesn't need the backing of opinion polls to validate his beliefs. He will stick to his guns and fight for what he believes, and do so without any bitterness. I think that is admirable. He knows that when teh election comes, the public will listen to his views and they will also admire how he withstood the storm and upheld his beliefs without the need for spin doctors and favourable opinion polls.

I think he is head and shoulders above the rest of his party, and I think that in time the public will come to see that too.

I'm getting fonder of Ed. I like Cooper and Harman.

I loathe the misogynistic dismissive renaming of Harman as Harperson. Utterly infantile.

I thought David Lammy had potential after seeing him on QT, but was a bit about the whole smacking thing.
Agree that there is no obvious candidate at present, but think the main problem is a lack of credible alternative policies. Given what the gvt is doing to the nhs/benefits/legal aid etc etc it's rather scary that there isn't a real sense of effective opposition.