Kinnock was a better leader than Miliband, says Charles Clarke

Neil Kinnock was a better Labour leader than Ed Miliband is, former Home Secretary Charles Clarke has said. In an interview with the Huffington Post, Clarke (who was Kinnock’s Chief of Staff) said that “Neil has far, far more qualities than Ed Miliband as a leader”.

Clarke believes that Kinncok “was a fantastic leader and brought Labour back towards victory”, something he does not feel Miliband has done: “I think the most likely outcome is a Tory overall majority.”

The interview may well be the most damning public intervention on the state of the Labour Party by a former Cabinet minister. Clarke, who was a member of Labour’s top team between 2001 and 2006, says that the Party currently “has no narrative.” He believes that Miliband’s biggest challenge now is to create a coherent and convincing story:

“Set out a clear statement of what Labour would actually do. Give people a reason to vote Labour… not an assembly of odd policies like the electricity freeze or whatever. You’ve got to set out an overall account of what it is. And I don’t think we have an account and I think that’s Ed’s biggest challenge.”

It is not the first time Clarke has been openly outspoken in his views on a Labour leader. In September 2009, he warned that unless Gordon Brown stepped down as Prime Minister, Labour would face a “hammering” at the 2010 election.