5 things we learned from Ed Miliband’s debate notes

Ed Miliband’s debate notes were left in a room in Salford after the TV debate on Thursday night. It didn’t take long before they were in the hands of The Sun.

Lets get the cry of anguish out of the way first.

What on earth were Miliband’s notes doing lying around where anyone could pick them up? Did neither Miliband nor those with him that night think to take them away? What about the attack lines that weren’t used that may be deployed later? And it’s not like this is the first time this has happened to Miliband – a few years ago his PMQs notes were left in a Westminster bathroom. Of course accidents can happen, but during an election campaign accidents can be harmful, and amateurish stuff like leaving important documents lying around is just the kind of basic errors that need to be stamped out.

That’s the cry of anguish out of the way. So here’s the good news.

The leaked notes don’t really do Miliband any harm. In fact, the line that The Sun chose to put on their front page “Relish the chance to show who I am” written in Miliband’s own hand, is actually pretty endearing – as is the stuff about being a “happy warrior” (ok, perhaps that’s a bit more cringe).

So what can we learn by reading the notes? (which The Sun have now published in full):

The answers were as scripted as we thought they had been – here’s the shocking news. Person who wants to be Prime Minister prepares lengthy responses on probable questions. I know. I’m as shocked as you are. Yet Miliband appears to have learned the answers pretty well, as those he used appeared to be near verbatim to what was on his notes, yet didn’t appear to be read out. Yet Miliband (and pretty much everyone else on stage) seemed to be working from a script. That made the debate feel a bit rehearsed and stunted – more about getting lines across than winning an argument. No-one who watched the two hour long debate on Thursday night will be surprised to hear that there was lengthy preparation and planned lines of attack, that’s what made it a bit…well…unenlightening.

There is a Miliband doctrine (of sorts) on foreign policy – one of the most common critiques of “Milibandism” is that it can be pretty inward looking. The “One Nation” leader tends to talk about that nation only, rather than the interconnected world we now live in. Indeed, an understanding of foreign policy – and a view of how the world works and will change – is arguably as important today as it has been at any point since the end of the Cold War. It was disappointing then to see barely any foreign policy focus on Thursday evening, but Miliband had prepared some answers. So what would a Miliband Doctrine on foreign policy be? He’d argue strongly in favour of Trident renewal, stronger actions against Russia and continuing to fight ISIS – but he’s wary of slavish support for our allies (read – America). This still needs fleshing out though.

He had lines to attack Sturgeon (and Farage) with – but he didn’t use them – Miliband was clearly focussed on tackling Cameron in their only debate together – and tried to turn every speaking opportunity into a direct attack on the Prime Minister. It worked relatively effectively, except it meant Nicola Sturgeon emerged completely unchallenged, and was seen by many observers as the winner of the debate. That’s not massively helpful when Labour needs to hold seats in Scotland. Yet we now know Miliband had four attack lines to use on Sturgeon – none of which he fully deployed (Trident, SNP cuts, the difference a Labour government made in Scotland and her “anti-Tory alliance” which is really an anti-Labour alliance too). The good news is that he was prepared to take Sturgeon on. The bad news is that he didn’t – and now she’ll be prepared for his attacks if/when they come in the April 16th challengers debate. The same goes for Farage, who he was ready to accuse of blaiming everything on “Europe, immigration and breastfeeding in cafes”. That line would likely have gone down well – although I’m less sure about the effectiveness of Miliband’s other key anti-Farage line “I’m not going to call him a racist but I am going to call him ridiculous”. Either say he’s a racist, or don’t use the word – there are arguments for either approach.

Miliband was willing to defend Labour’s economic record in robust terms – Many within the party (especially those involved in the last Labour government) have been frustrated by Miliband and Balls’ apparent unwillingness to defend the last government’s economic record – especially considering they were such a big part of it. However Miliband had prepared a short monologue attacking Cameron over the economy, and hitting back at the Tory claim that Labour spending on public services caused the crash. here’s the key segment: “David you supported our spending plans up until the financial crash. Which schools and hospitals are you now saying the Labour government shouldn’t have built? Which doctors and nurses shouldn’t we have hired. The reality is that it wasn’t spending on public services that caused the crisis but a failure of the banks.” Spot on Ed Miliband. We should have been saying a variation on this – loudly – for the past five years. More of this please.

His handwriting is a nightmare – A bit flippant this one, but anyone who has ever received a note or a Christmas card from Miliband now knows whether or not they’re certainly written in his own handwriting. The notes that are written by Miliband’s own hand are pretty impenetrable – squiggly lines that make you long for the relative legibility of Gordon Brown’s big black felt tip. Then again, if you’re going to leave handwritten notes lying around, having handwriting that looks like lines and dots is probably no bad thing…