Progressive activists seek to draft Ed Miliband to stand

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

A campaign site set up by a “bunch of progressive activists” is seeking to garner support for a potential Ed Miliband leadership campaign.

The campaign, Ed Miliband for Labour Leader, is already doing the rounds on Twitter.

The site says:

“So Cameron has made it into Number 10 and now we need to take it back from the Tories.

That means we need Ed Miliband as Leader of the Labour Party.

We want Ed to stand because:

* He speaks human and listens (as in actually listens)

* He gets the big stuff – jobs and the economy, green issues, social justice, fairness

* He can (re)build the party as a progressive movement and take us beyond “Blair vs Brown”

* He can re-engage people with the Party and with politics

* He can beat the Tories

The first step towards making him leader is to make sure he runs.

Please help by signing the petition on this page and then sharing this page with your friends and asking them to join you in supporting Ed Miliband.”

The “about” section of the site says:

“This site is for all of us who want Ed Miliband to stand for the Leader of the Labour Party. Please sign up to help make sure he stands and takes the Labour Party into the future.

Who is behind this?

We’re a bunch of progressive activists who want to see a swift end to Tory rule, and know that the first step to this is choosing the best leader. We’re not being paid to do this – our incentive is that we think this is what’s best for the Party and for Britain.

How does Ed Miliband become leader of Labour

We’re learning as we go along, but it looks like the steps are:

We convince him to stand by showing the public and progressive activists are behind him. If there is a formal campaign, we’ll support that by donating and being vocal in our support on social networks like Twitter and Facebook and directly to the media where possible. Every Labour Party member has a vote for the party leader, so if you aren’t a member join and then you’ll be able to vote for Ed.”