With commendable self-discipline this discontent has been buried by a self-denying ordinance in public. But it bubbles beneath the surface and is emerging in covert operations to maximise Ed Miliband’s discomfort at what has turned out to be a vulnerable point in his leadership. But it is not the predictable doubts of the New Labour partisans that should be worrying the Labour leader now. Of more concern should be the mounting frustration of his supporters, among which Tribune is to be counted.
Mr Miliband needs to make no apologies for biding his time in a thorough overhaul of his party’s policies. That’s what he said he would do. Nor did he deliver any false promises about the speed with which he would make his mark on national politics. He has been growing into the job. Not so long ago, another Leader of the Opposition set out to relaunch his party with a review of the manifesto he’d had a hand in writing. Under constant pelting from his own right wing, it took him two years to assert his authority. He now resides in Downing Street.It is not long – just eight months – since Mr Miliband was elected. But he does not have two years.
From the economy to the National Health Service, welfare, work and education, the destruction – in spite of all the U-turns – of the social fabric of Britain demands a stronger Opposition. A leader alone cannot fulfil all the obligations required, it needs a Shadow Cabinet pulling together in tireless forensic and co-ordinated attack which resonates with public feeling. Mr Miliband is handicapped by a Shadow Cabinet which does not wholeheartedly embrace his authority.
Dave Prentis, whose Unison members are in the front line of public sector cuts, hit a nerve when he told a newspaper that the Shadow Cabinet “still believe they are in government and therefore have got to make reasonable statements”. He went on: “They are not playing their part strongly in opposition”, adding damningly with reference to the campaign against the NHS reforms: “We were running that campaign for six months before we heard anything from the Labour Party.”He may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls has shown how to take the fight to the Tories.
A hostage of those who did not want him as leader, Mr Miliband is pestered by the party’s right to pursue a direction which would define him – for example, by attacking the “undeserving” poor, or the unions. He showed what he really stands for in a conference speech which took Labour from a crushing general election defeat just five months previously to a more confident, hope-filled place with fresh optimism. We need to see more of that spirit. Mr Miliband is the right leader at the right time for Labour. He needs to resolve to follow his own vision and take no prisoners – for the sake of the party and the country.
