Ed Miliband’s Blair meetings

The Sun has an interesting scoop this morning, getting confirmation that Ed Miliband has had four meetings with Tony Blair since he became Labour leader 18 months ago. That’s something which has been discussed in Labour circles – especially in light of Blair’s meetings with 2010 intake MPs – but hadn’t been confirmed until now. Miliband has also held meetings with senior members of the Blair cabinet – including Peter Mandelson and John Hutton – over the past year.  The Sun reports a party source saying:

“They talked about the need for Labour to be in the centre ground of British politics. They also discussed Ed’s idea of the ‘squeezed middle’ and how best to help hard-working families in these difficult times.”

That echoes what many of those identified with New Labour have been saying in both public and in private – that the centre ground in 2015 will not be the same as it was in 1997. The disagreement within that group is whether or not Miliband is on the right track when it comes to identifying that centre ground.