Copycat Cameron borrows Ed’s lines

It’s time to allow members to nominate candidates for leader

The overwhelming decision of the special conference is rightly seen as a triumph for Ed Miliband. I confess that when Ed Miliband first announced his intention of changing the relationship I feared the worst. The initial perception was that his intention was to detach the party from the trade union movement. This would have been a disaster. Not just a financial disaster, which it certainly would have been. But it would have changed for the worse, the very nature of […]

PMQs Verdict: If people wonder why Clegg is loathed by the Labour Party – let today be your answer

By Mark Ferguson

Miliband is talking about Europe. Cameron is in the Middle East. So of course that means it’s time for everyone’s least favourite PMQs – arise, the understudies. Clegg vs Harman. A clash that will ring out throughout the ages, but be forgotten entirely even by the time you read this review of proceedings. Truth be told, neither Harman (the experienced Parliamentarian with nearly 32 years of debates under her belt) nor Clegg (the relative notice in every sense of the […]

Miliband rules out EU referendum – full speech text

In a speech to the London Business School this morning, Ed Miliband ruled out an EU referendum vote in the next Parliament – unless there’s a significant transfer of power to Brussels. Here’s the full text of the speech: It is great to be here at the London Business School. For fifty years, in the teaching you provide you have made a major contribution to helping businesses succeed across the world. And today I want to talk about an issue […]

London must be for Londoners not Kleptocrats

By Jon Wilson

The crisis in Ukraine brings us to the governance of London. For us, citizens of a country whose capital city is a crossroads for global capital, foreign policy does not just happen out there. British politicians anxiously vex about their ‘impotence’ in making a difference overseas, often imagining the only effective action is to deploy force. It never is. Violence is always an impotent tool. As Iraq and Afghanistan show, the idea that missile strikes and small, short-term armies of […]

Miliband (almost) rules out an EU referendum – now he must start ruling things in

By Mark Ferguson

Ed Miliband will confirm this morning what has long been  assumed – he will not pledge an EU referendum. In an op-ed for the FT(£) published today, Miliband states that Labour’s position on Europe is “clear”. That’s evidently a matter of opinion, as the pre-briefing around his speech has led the Mirror to claim Miliband is pledging a referendum, whilst the FT claims that he isn’t. The FT are largely right on this one. Miliband has no intention of going […]