Ed Miliband’s problem? He’s trying to please everyone

The day after his barnstorming speech at Labour party conference in Brighton last year, Ed Miliband sat down with a small group of commentators and supporters to share thoughts and strategy. He told the group of ‘Milibandites’ he would respond to claims he was weak by turning them on its head, pointing out Cameron’s unwillingness to take on big vested interests such as the banks, energy companies and Rupert Murdoch, while kicking the most vulnerable in society.

As he told his audience the day before, “You see, the real test of leadership is not whether you stand up to the weak, that’s easy; it’s whether you stand up to the strong and know who to fight for.”

Though I made the left-wing case for supporting Miliband last week, I don’t want to pretend the Labour leader doesn’t face any problems. In fact I want to put my finger on where I think the problem is.

Ed Miliband’s problem, to put it bluntly, is that he doesn’t project strength. So even though people broadly agree with and think his heart is in the right place, they aren’t convinced he will carry out what he promises, yet.

Where does the perception of strength come from? The usual script requires a leader to pick a fight against a group the press dislike and show strength by defeating them. Blair, who was earlier derided as Bambi, did that with Clause 4, while Cameron styled himself as a moderniser who would fight the old guard on equal marriage. Perceptions of strength matter, because voters want to know a leader is even willing to fight his own side to get things done. They want to know he or she stands for something.

Miliband wants to tear up the traditional rulebook of politics. He prefers to lead by consensus and listening to people, not conflict as I’ve said before. This has created an odd situation where lefties, who previously attacked Blair for being showy, gimmicky, divisive and polarising, now deride Miliband for being the exact opposite. People are inconsistent like that, unfortunately.

But the problem is that Ed Miliband is too consensual to the point that he looks inconsistent.

The picture with the Sun newspaper is just one obvious example: there’s no point in saying you are going to take on Rupert Murdoch if you then play along with his publicity stunts.

There are numerous other examples of Labour’s contradictions. Ed Miliband promises Labour will be optimistic, but then endorses measures on cutting benefits for the youth. He says Labour will be bold and radical, but none of the headline-grabbing policies on house-building, taxation, the energy market (the short-term freeze aside) or train companies are particularly radical or bold. They look like careful tinkering.

Miliband says Labour will be radically different to the Tories, but then Ed Balls pops up to try and sound like he wants to implement spending cuts as harshly as George Osborne.

There are intellectual explanations for all these messages of course, but the public don’t care for nuance. They only see Miliband sending out contradictory messages.

This reflects a broader problem with Ed Miliband’s style of leading the Labour party: he still wants to keep everyone happy. From the left of the party (who want to see rail nationalisation, statutory Living Wages and massive house-building), to the right-wingers who want to hear about ‘fiscal discipline’ (i.e. cuts), immigration controls and taking people out of welfare. Miliband wants to please them all.

So he sounds inconsistent and, worse, weak.

The Fabian Society’s Marcus Roberts is fond of quoting the American political maxim: pick the issue you would die in a ditch for and make sure everyone knows what it is. Ed Miliband should heed that advice. It’s time he stopped sending out mixed messages by trying to please everyone.