Ed’s inbox – June 14th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

If Ed Miliband could only read five blogposts each day, he’d read these ones…

The dawn of hope? – Labour Uncut
By Nick Pearce

Ed Miliband used his speech yesterday to bring the contributory principle back into the heart of Labour thinking on welfare reform, which got Frank Field and Labour bloggers very excited.

Although the Labour leader didn’t mention it, it was fitting that he referred to the principle of contribution this year, since 2011 is the centenary of the great 1911 national insurance act, which brought in unemployment and sickness insurance (those were the days when a progressive alliance really did achieve bold reforms).

It is less clear, however, that the contributory principle can really serve to underpin a modernisation of the welfare state for the twenty first century. It only now covers around 10% of working age benefits, and it is being scaled back further under the government’s plans to cut employment support allowance. – Read more.

Where Ed still needs to improve in his speeches – Left Foot Forward
By Asher Dresner

Ed’s speech yesterday was better than his last few, but he is still not making the best use of speeches to show leadership.

Politically, the tactic of the speech was to tie together the issues of excessive pay and benefit fraud into one package, put a ribbon marked ‘irresponsibility’ on it, and so claim ownership of ‘responsibility’ as a buzzword for Labour.

Rhetorically, it was better than recent speeches in a few ways. He put a bit more passion into the delivery. He didn’t just talk about issues like antisocial behaviour, he illustrated them with pictures – a front garden strewn with litter – and sounds – “the throb of loud music played by the neighbour in the small hours”. – Read more.

The Labour Welfare-Rollercoaster – Ed, Liam and Frank – Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
By Sue Marsh

Well, those politicians put us through our paces yesterday didn’t they?

The tension surrounding the much trailed speech from Ed Miliband on “scroungers” had us all on tenterhooks for hours. Twitter was frothing with Labour tweeters, sick and disabled tweeters, and journos all debating the merits of even going down the scrounger route to begin with.

As the transcript was posted on Twitter, I think there was a collective gasp of horror. Not from all, but from the sick and disabled. Those of us hoping to hear a different tone on sick and disabled people were in for a shock. We were the scroungers, the “irresponsible” society Mr Miliband wants to root out. – Read more.

Tories Still Believe in a Natural Social Order – THE HONEYBALL BUZZ
By Mary Honeyball MEP

Today I read in the Guardian appalling news that is of particular relevance to my work in the Parliament. This is that some Tory MPs are pouncing upon research that is sneakily reintroducing the idea of ‘innate’ intelligence, which may have profound impact upon educational policy.

All previous studies suggest that success in school is overwhelmingly determined by a parent’s income – as early high-achievers from disadvantaged backgrounds are gradually overtaken by early poor-achievers from advantaged families. It turns out, however, that many Conservatives would like to argue that these findings are wrong and that the reason many children from poorer backgrounds do less well is as a result of their lower levels of intelligence…which just so happens to correspond with their family background. – Read more.

Full text of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s letter after sister dumped as candidate – Political Scrapbook
By Political Scrapbook

The Mail on Sunday this weekend reported the story of the Conservatives’ deselection of a female candidate following a controversial interview conducted when she was eight months pregnant. The row prompted a scathing letter to Tory top brass from her furious brother, Somerset MP Jacob Rees-Mogg. Political Scrapbook has obtained a full copy of this correspondence, which is reproduced below. – Read more.

Our suggestions for Ed’s inbox are limited by what we read – so if you’ve seen a blogpost that should be in Ed’s inbox, let us know.