PMQs Verdict: Neither silent Ed nor SHOUTY ED are working for Miliband

Week three of silent Ed, and I’m still not convinced by it as a tactic.

Today’s performance wasn’t awful, but nor was it good. There seemed more of a plan in play than last week (in short – quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet, LOUD, LOUD) and whilst that meant Miliband avoided a drubbing, it didn’t mean he won either. Being sober and restrained might be “what the public want” (TM John Bercow) but it’s not a winning tactic for Ed. Instead it comes across like he’s in a defensive crouch. None of his lines really land. There’s too little for his MPs to get behind.

It’s fine but it’s flat.

Yet when he crunches the gears and tried to accelerate from quiet up the register to SHOUTY – that ain’t working either.

Quiet Ed had succumbed to Quite Angry Ed, and the early composure fell away. It wasn’t long before the safety blanket of the “Bullingdon Club” attack was deployed. If being quiet wasn’t working, being aggro wasn’t either.

If it seems like I’m unfairly focused on style, that’s because it’s style that trips him up. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with the substance of the questions he asked – the lack of support for Syrian refugees is a serious issue, and he rightly welcomed encouraging yet mixed labour market stats. Even stylistically he’s made headway by stopping himself from making some of his worst PMQs faux-pas (dad jokes, arm waving, and repeating the words “Mr Speaker” like broken pull-string toy).

But the problem Miliband is facing at PMQs is still a biggie. It’s authenticity. His “new style” is too obviously a political manoeuvre. He’s not trying to “ask the PM serious questions” he’s trying to trip him up. And he’s not the furious temper-losing kind either so that just looks confected. Instead it seems that by trying to develop a specific style for PMQs Miliband is conflating cutting out mistakes and annoying personal tics with a need to altogether stop being himself.

The Ed Miliband I’ve met – and like – is a decent, honest guy who’s intimidatingly smart and knows what he cares about. Channelled correctly that guy could beat Cameron hands down on detail and heart. Yet this artificial, watered-down version of Miliband has turned up for the past three weeks at PMQs instead.

Which seems a shame, really – as I much prefer to see him win.