Yesterday, both the Miliband camps released polling data that supported the central tenets of their respective pitches to the party. David Miliband’s showed that he is thought of by a majority voters as the candidate most able to win were a general election held soon. Ed Miliband’s showed that the public are where he is on moving beyond New Labour and talismanic New Labour policies. How you react to these polls probably depends on how long you think the coalition will last. Myself I think we’re probably stuck with the for at least 3 years, and so am more relaxed about the “ready to lead now” question. Ed will have plenty of time to establish himself as a strong, articulate and empathetic leader once elected, which I am in no doubt that he will do.

Now obviously I want Ed to win. I’ve made that very clear. I think the voting is likely to be really close, and I don’t know who will win (though I suspect his surname will be Miliband) but I think this contest has changed the Labour Party in some important ways, so that whoever wins it is vitally clear that if they are serious about increasing internal party democracy & winning an election, they will need to take into account the message of Ed’s polling. The Labour party are itching to adopt these policies, and the country are behind them in doing so. The closeness of the race means that Ed will have to take very seriously people’s concerns about his relative inexperience (and therefore have some big hitters in the Cabinet. Alan Johnson’s announcement will help in that respect, though Ed’s difference with him on Civil Liberties would mean moving him from the Home Office brief). It also means David will have to take very seriously people’s concerns on policies and as such be persuaded from his Labour Light prescription on taxes.

These polls are being presented as New Labour Vs Old Labour, but if the Milibands play it right, they can both learn from and use the data provided to build a better and stronger Labour Party.

Tags: David Miliband, Ed Miliband, Labour, Labour leadership, Labour Party democracy

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 4th, 2010 at 11:08 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.