Miliband “sorry to those who feel offended” by Sun photo

Ed Miliband’s photo op with the freebie copy of The Sun has received widespread criticism from across the Labour Party – including from our editor, the Mayor of Liverpool and Tom Watson.

This afternoon a Labour spokesperson has responded to the criticism, arguing that Miliband was promoting England’s bid to win the World Cup:

“Ed Miliband was promoting England’s bid to win the World Cup and is proud to do so. But he understands the anger that is felt towards The Sun over Hillsborough by many people in Merseyside and he is sorry to those who feel offended.”​

The problem is though, that it looked like he – and other politicians – were promoting the paper, not the World Cup bid (which wasn’t the clear focus of the front page). And whilst it’s good that Miliband and his team have acknowledged the upset and offence caused by the photo, many of those who were annoyed are unlikely to be sated by what the New Statesman’s George Eaton called a”half-apology”.