Seamus Milne wouldn't condemn Bin Laden and spoke up for Lee Rigby's killers, TOM RAWSTORNE. From the moment he was appointed, Seumas Milne's ability to grab the limelight — for all the wrong reasons — quickly became apparent.
Back then, a year ago, the spin doctor accompanied his new boss to Labour Party headquarters for a television interview about the situation in Syria. But Jeremy Corbyn's efforts to appear statesmanlike were suddenly undermined by the distracting appearance of a man in the background. Not once but twice he passed behind the Labour leader, the second time trying in vain to cover his face from the camera. Like the master he serves, Seumas Milne's core beliefs could hardly be more out of touch with popular opinion At the time, few viewers would have recognised the interloper — Milne. In recent weeks, his interventions have seen him making headlines, rather than shaping them, on an almost daily basis. The loony Left is back – but the Tories would be crazy to be complacent. The loony Left is back – but the Tories would be crazy to be complacent. Behind the charm, Labour's Marxist in chief is a sinister thug...but underestimate John McDonnell at your peril, says GUY ADAMS.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, who lists his hobby in Who's Who as 'fermenting [sic] the overthrow of Capitalism', tells Labour's Conference that he plans to chuck £250 billion at a 'National Investment Bank', increase the minimum wage to £10 an hour, and consider a 'universal basic income', under which the Government would give every citizen a free cash hand-out.
It's part of a plan to resurrect a brand of politics 'called socialism', he told delegates in Liverpool yesterday. A more accurate way to describe McDonnell's policy platform would, of course, be old-fashioned economic suicide, with a hefty dose of Seventies-style social chaos, trade-union militancy and class warfare. On paper, this is no more than one might expect from a man caught on video earlier this month telling a private audience 'I'm a Marxist', and callously describing the 2008 financial crash, which cost millions of people their homes and jobs, as something for which 'I've been waiting for a generation'.
Strikes. How Jeremy Corbyn's followers could seize control of your town hall as early as 2018. David Miliband isn't the messiah who will return to save Labour from Jeremy Corbyn. He's an overrated political failure. Richard Burden. Would Labour's anti-Semtites so freely spout bigotry if they feared the Jews? Labour's deluded Corbynite Twitterati are sealing it off from the electorate. Stephen Glover is disturbed by Jeremy Corbyn's indulgence of terrorists. Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet re-shuffle has been mocked by David Cameron and many pundits.
It’s true it was an absurdly drawn-out affair. I expect most of the nation couldn’t care less about the outcome. But despite the hilarity, Mr Corbyn and his Hard-Left clique have got almost all they want. The pro-Trident Maria Eagle has been shunted out of Defence to Culture, the most minor Shadow Cabinet job, and replaced by the nuclear unilateralist Emily Thornberry. Hilary Benn stays at Foreign Affairs but with a pair of manacles around his wrists. An obscure moderate called Michael Dugher has been sent packing, as has the equally reasonable Shadow Europe minister, Pat McFadden. We would be making a serious mistake if we said that the demotion of some shadow ministers, and the dismissal or resignation of others, is unimportant because we have scarcely heard of them.
Mr Corbyn may seem a bumbling, semi-lovable ass who can’t make up his mind. Ed Balls has forgotten his role in some of Britain's worst financial disasters. By Alex Brummer for the Daily Mail Published: 01:36 GMT, 5 February 2015 | Updated: 08:47 GMT, 5 February 2015 Frankly, it was an exquisitely embarrassing moment when, on BBC2’s Newsnight, Ed Balls couldn’t remember a single businessman who supports the Labour Party.
Eventually, he only managed to come up with someone called ‘Bill’ — who turned out to be Bill Thomas, a board member of the Co-operative Bank which almost collapsed following a drugs scandal involving its former chairman. Euan Blair for Parliament? Labour is more inbred than the North Korean politburo. All hail!
We are not worthy! (Photo: EDDIE MULHOLLAND) Can you guess what became of the son of Harold Wilson? He became a train driver. The boy who grew up in Number 10 – child of the 123rd most powerful politician in the entire world – chose a life of leaves-on-the-line over politics. But none of that proletarian nonsense for Euan Blair, son of Tony. I first thought I’d write this blog as a piece of satire. Miliband's Marxist father and the real reason he wants to drag us back to the nightmare 70s. By Dominic Sandbrook PUBLISHED: 22:05 GMT, 25 September 2013 | UPDATED: 07:41 GMT, 27 September 2013 Lying in a quiet corner of Highgate cemetery, sheltered from the rumbling North London traffic, there’s a plain grey gravestone.
‘Ralph Miliband’, says the inscription. ‘Writer Teacher Socialist.’ Ed Miliband's new Mr Fixit Michael Dugher is a real calamity. By Andrew Pierce PUBLISHED: 22:29 GMT, 18 November 2012 | UPDATED: 18:55 GMT, 19 November 2012 With precious little fanfare, Ed Miliband has appointed a new vice-chairman of the Labour Party.
In his new role, Michael Dugher will be responsible for communication strategy and promoting the canard that Labour has changed and is ready to govern again. One nation? Hypocritical Red Ed is the most divisive Labour leader for decades. By Stephen Glover PUBLISHED: 22:36 GMT, 3 October 2012 | UPDATED: 13:00 GMT, 4 October 2012 Having been widely derided as aloof and geeky, Ed Miliband has, it seems, with one speech established himself as an exciting Labour leader and a plausible prime minister-in-waiting.
Hardly bog standard... Ed Miliband's days at the Eton for lefties. By Tom Rawstorne Published: 22:11 GMT, 2 October 2012 | Updated: 10:53 GMT, 3 October 2012 Tonight’s Labour Party political broadcast – dubbed ‘Ed: The Movie’ – is aimed at showing Ed Miliband as a no-nonsense member of the working class.
It will focus on the ‘comprehensive’ school education he had at Haverstock School in north London - the ‘really tough school’ he described in yesterday’s conference speech. The emphasis will be on street-cred Ed being an ordinary guy, while Old Etonian toff Dave is not. The point being made is hardly subtle: while David Cameron has known nothing but privilege, Mr Miliband is a product of a comprehensive and therefore understands ‘normal’ Britons.
But what is the truth? Scroll down for video Humble roots? In fact, Mr Miliband is hardly a typical comprehensive pupil; and Haverstock, at the time, was not exactly a typical comprehensive school. Ed Balls: Hypocrite who dare not tell voters the truth. By Simon Heffer PUBLISHED: 21:54 GMT, 1 October 2012 | UPDATED: 21:54 GMT, 1 October 2012 Which was the more offensive aspect of Ed Balls’s speech to the Labour conference yesterday: his intellectually dishonest prescription for curing the woes of the British economy, or his hypocritical refusal to acknowledge his part in causing them?
Mr Balls had – or claimed he had – a masterplan for growth. The State stands to make £3billion to £4billion when the rights to operate the fourth generation of mobile phone services are auctioned, and Mr Balls promised to use the money to build 100,000 affordable homes and give first-time buyers a stamp duty holiday. This promise typified the hypocrisy of Mr Balls’s speech. Empty promises: If Mr Balls wishes to win the trust of the British, he must speak a little truthfulness, as well as detailing what he would do differently and how When Labour talks about spending money, it is careful to suggest where it might come from.