Pressure is mounting within the Shadow Cabinet for a move against Ed Miliband’s leadership of the Labour Party if Ken Livingstone fails to win the London mayoral race against Boris Johnson in May.
Mr Miliband’s morale is said by supporters to be very low after two weeks of battering criticism and sniping from Labour colleagues and adverse criticism of his “weak” leadership in the media.
A defeat for Mr Livingstone’s attempt at a third term at London’s City Hall is seen by some senior figures who are unreconciled to Mr Miliband’s defeat of his brother David as a potential catalyst for rebellion leading to some form of ultimatum or even an outright leadership challenge.
The result would be seen and portrayed as a reflection on Mr Miliband’s leadership as he struggles to make a greater impact against David Cameron and the coalition Government at a time of economic gloom and swingeing cuts.
Mr Miliband has left even some of his supporters in despair after appearing to make major concessions to the Shadow Cabinet’s right-wing over deeper spending cuts.
At a press conference where members of the media laughed openly when shadow Treasury minister Rachel Reeves referred to Mr Miliband’s “steely determination”, the Labour leader signalled that he may be prepared to go further in cutting parts of current public spending than the coalition.
He dismissed claims that he had an image problem which will hamper his chances of winning the next election but said he could not promise to reverse the coalition’s cuts.
In briefings to the media, “senior Labour sources” were quoted as saying
that the party “will have to go further than the Tories” in cutting public spending
in some areas.
In what was billed as an event to enable Mr Miliband to assert his authority over his party and the political high ground of the economy and a fairer society, he said: “Next time we come back to power it will be different. We will be handed a deficit. So we must rethink how we achieve fairness for Britain in a time when there is less money to spend.”
Since the beginning of the year, a number of senior Labour figures have spoken out on cuts and Mr Miliband’s leadership. Defence Secretary Jim Murphy outlined a package of cuts that would embrace planned coalition cuts and in some areas go further. He stuck to his own portfolio in an announcement that should prove relatively uncontroversial, though it only trimmed rather than scuppered the Trident programme.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne called for a radical re-evaluation of the welfare state, saying spending was far too high and that it had lost its founding purpose.
Mr Miliband’s former advisor Maurice Glasman wrote that his leadership had “flickered rather than shone” while former Cabinet member Alan Johnson suggested the leadership would have to improve to connect with voters.
