Miliband accuses Cameron of “unjustified smears”

As I wrote earlier today, Ed Miliband has come out fighting after Cameron ramped up his attacks on the Labour leader. And as expected, he’s accused Cameron of “smears”. Here’s what he’s said this afternoon:

“What this episode shows is more about the character of the Prime Minister than about the character of Labour’s relationship with the Co-op. We have a Prime Minister who, when he sees a serious situation at the bank, tries to make cheap political points rather than sorting it out. David Cameron is determined to smear his way through the next 18 months. That is not what the British people expect from their Prime Minister.

“As soon as I knew about Rev Flowers and his activities he was suspended from the Labour Party and now what needs to happen is to look at the regulatory issues around the regulation of the Co-op and around Rev Flowers’s role in that.  But I think what the British people have a right to expect from the Prime Minister is not just engaging in unjustified smears, but actually to concentrate on helping the borrowers, the savers, the investors, in this important institution.

“Rev Flowers has deeply let down the people who entrusted him to be the chair of the bank.  Obviously he has deep questions to answer about that. As far as the Labour Party’s relationship with the Co-operative, we certainly have a long-standing and historic relationship quite apart from the role of Rev Flowers.”  

How long until the first mention of Lynton Crosby…?