Sunday 23 May 2010

Sunday papers: Kinnock for Ed M, Blunkett backs Burnham

Neil Kinnock backs Ed Miliband in an Observer interview, which opens with the former Labour leader's excitement at Cardiff City's Wembley play-off. Unfortunately, they failed to reach the Premiership.

The younger Miliband also wins the endorsement of The People as a "a promising Prime Minister in the ­making".

David Blunkett will nominate and endorse Andy Burnham "to widen the field", as the News of the World reports.


another friend of Mr Burnham added: “Andy would be happy to be seen as the candidate from outside the political chattering classes.”


The Sunday Times has a poll putting David Miliband first (23%) and Diane Abbott second (9%), again demonstrating that public opinion polling at this early stage is heavily influenced by name recognition as much as potential support. The paper suggests MPs supporting Ed Miliband are engaging in negative campaigning against his brother.

The Sunday Telegraph reports David Miliband's call for the party to "move on" from Iraq, though Miliband the Elder seeks to close the issue by pretty much agreeing with Ed Miliband and Ed Balls.


"While Iraq was a source of division in the past, it doesn't need to be a source of division in the future. I said during the election campaign that I thought it was time to move on. "If we had known then that there were no weapons of mass destruction, obviously there wouldn't have been a war."


The Independent also reports from the Progress conference on Iraq.

The Observer rounds-up leadership developments, including Andy Burnham's comments to the Progress conference on New Labour's wariness about addressing excess at the top:


"We let a perception grow that we were in favour of wealth of any kind and with no limits on it whatsoever, that we were somehow in awe of wealth and of business and didn't have the ability to stand up and say what was right and what was wrong," he said. We appeared rootless in my view. It didn't seem as if we knew what excess was when we saw it. And, let's be honest, during our period in government some people in certain professions did indulge in excess."


The Herald and Scotland on Sunday also focus on reporting the candidates' comments on Iraq.

Scotland on Sunday also reports that Gordon Brown intends to return to the campaign trail for next Spring's Scottish Parliamentary elections.

Former Home Secretary Alan Johnson, writing in The Observer, wants Labour to push for an electoral reform referendum to include a vote on the more proportional AV+, as well as the Alternative Vote.

In Coalition commentary, John Rentoul warns against exaggerating the unhappiness of Business Secretary Vince Cable:


the bookmakers, who have Vince Cable the favourite to be first out of the coalition, have made too much of his hang-dog expression when seen with his Tory colleagues: that is simply what he looks like.

1 comment:

Robin Paice said...

All these explanations of "why we lost" ignore the fact that all the factors mentioned were also present in 2005 - when we won. So obviously, something happened since then.

Suggestions include:

The recession, and failure to deflect blame for it
David Cameron and rejuvenated Conservatives
Increase in perceived Scottishness (NB Gordon Brown)
Expenses scandal - disproportionately affecting Labour
Events - and failure to explain response (e.g. East European immigration)
Incoherent policies on e.g. foundation hospitals, school academies.

I think it was the cumulative effect of all these (and other) factors which undermined confidence.