“We are enormously proud of you” – university Labour club chairs pen open letter to Miliband

Over 25 current chairs of university Labour clubs have written an open letter to Ed Miliband, thanking him for his service as Labour leader and saying they are “enormously proud” of the “principled campaign” he ran.

The letter also states that they do not believe Labour lost due to Miliband’s infamous bacon sandwich photo or the content of the manifesto – and that the next leader should not reject what Miliband achieved since 2010.

You can read the full letter here:

Dear Ed,

Election night was a painful experience for all of us. The result was disappointing both for the Labour party and, more importantly, for the working people of Britain. It is right that we have a debate about the reasons we lost and the direction our movement should take following this defeat.

However, we are enormously proud of you personally and the hopeful, principled campaign you led in difficult circumstances – a groundswell of nationalism, a hostile press, and a public that doubted the ability of politics to deliver real change.

We do not believe that we lost because of the way you eat a bacon sandwich. We do not believe that we lost because of what was written in our manifesto, or because we pledged to take steps to reduce the cost of living and restore fairness to our tax system. We did not lose this election because we talked about social justice, or because of the moral stands you made on phone hacking, asylum seekers, and the bedroom tax.

We would like to thank you for ensuring our party remained where it was always meant to be: fighting alongside working people against vested interests, arguing against inequality, and protecting the most vulnerable. Thank you, too, for holding the movement together. It is easy to forget that, in 2010, many commentators predicted the rapid descent of the Labour party into infighting and irrelevance. We would also like to thank you for inspiring us. We all became involved with the party during your leadership; we felt privileged to campaign for you and what you stood for.

The next leader of the Labour party has a great task ahead of them. As you have acknowledged, this country needs a strong Labour party, and cannot be allowed to suffer a further decade of Tory rule. Our next leader, however, should not reject all that you achieved in your five years: they must remember that our party was built by and for working people, and that it should never be afraid to speak out against injustice and inequality, and stand up to the powerful.

In solidarity, 

David Klemperer, Kate Welsh, Madalena Leao, Loughlan O’Doherty, Charlie Atkins & Nikhil Venkatesh (Co-Chairs elect, Co-Chairs, and ex Co-Chairs, Oxford University Labour Club)

Pouneh Ahari, (Chair, Leicester University Labour Students)

Berk Bektas (Chair, Oxford Brookes Labour)

Jordan Blyth (Chair, Teesside University Labour Students)

Josh Capstick (Chair, Hull University Labour Students)

Josh Chown (Chair, Surrey University Labour Students)

Andrew Gierke (Chair, Lancaster University Labour Students)

Rebecca Gittins (Chair, Warwick University Labour Club)

Harriet Hey (Chair, Liverpool University Labour Students)

Ollie Hill (LSESU Labour and Cooperative Society)

Joe Kerwin (President, Salford University Labour Club and National Chair, Unison Young Members)

Hani Latif (co-Chair, Durham University Labour Club)

Christy McMorrow & Alice O’Driscoll (Co-Chairs, Sheffield Labour Students)

Owen Mooney (Chair, Glasgow University Labour Club and Chair, Scottish Young Labour)

Izzy Morris (ex-Chair, University of East Anglia Labour Students)

Sophie Nash (Chair, King’s College London Labour Society)

Tom Roberts (Chair, Salford University Labour Club)

Callum Shannon (Chair, York University Labour Club)

Lucy Simmons & Matty Bacon (co-Chairs, Bristol University Labour Students)

Craig Stanley (Chair, Nottingham University Labour Society)

Nathan Steele (Chair, University College London Labour Club)

Ruari Walker (Chair, Newcastle University Labour Club)

Rory Weal (Chair, Cambridge University Labour Club)