Cruddas defends Miliband and dismisses leadership speculation

Jon Cruddas has dismissed the idea that the solution to Labour’s perceived problems is as simple as blaming any other person – whether that be Ed Miliband or anyone else.

In an interview with the New Statesman, Labour’s policy chief defended Miliband’s leadership style, claiming that speculating on who else could do the job would only amount to “throwing someone else in front of the train”, saying:

“I see him at close quarters. He has a different form of leadership, which I quite like, actually – it’s more inclusive, it’s quite plural. We have to expose that in terms of the country. We’re laying down the stuff to make sure that he will have an agenda to articulate.”

“This is a journey of self-discovery; it’s not a question of leadership. It’s a deeper question about what the party is. This won’t be resolved by throwing someone else in front of the train.”

“You ain’t going to do it by having a game of top trumps across the leadership. It’s not about Andy [Burnham], or Ed [Balls], or Yvette [Cooper]. If people think the solution to this is X rather than Y, they are deluding themselves.”

Despite being made before the phone hacking scandal resurfaced this week, these remarks could be interpreted as a comment on Labour’s relationship with the press – with the aforementioned “train” being the British press’ general approach to the Party’s leaders (hence why replacing Y with X would not be the solution).

Interesting to note too, that, as many members on LabourList often call for Miliband to embrace a ‘bold and radical’ agenda in the run up to 2015, the man charged with Labour’s policy for the next election is once again talking in terms “deeper questions” and having “an agenda to articulate” – but also talks of “tripwires”, “cross-currents” and “tensions” as the policy review reaches its crucial final weeks and months.