Ed Miliband went to speak to London Citizens to say, 'Bring it on' to the government today. Bring it on 25 minutes late... But still, bring it on. The venue at the OXO Tower was perfect for such a sassy message. It even featured a dance floor for him to bust out some body-popping, or some cheerleading moves like the film of the same title.
According to the Tories, this is the sixth relaunch for the Labour leader, so Bring It On 6 then? Unfortunately, Ed Miliband's latest breakthrough message doesn't contain that much that's new to break down.
There was a policy to help the elderly be on the lowest energy tarriffs.
And there was a reminder that Ed came up with Cameron's weekend statement on 'good capitalism'.
"Everyone is now joining us talking about the squeezed middle, the next generation and responsible capitalism," said Miliband.
“But it’s not enough just to talk about them.
"Suddenly David Cameron and the deputy prime are falling over themselves to day they too are burning with passion to take on
‘crony capitalism’.
“Now he has accepted this is the battleground of politics, I say: ‘Bring it on.’"
Sadly he didn't accompany his statement with a finger snap.
But Rachel Sylvester in The Times (£) this morning highlighted a problem with Miliband's stance on good/bad businesses.
She describes him as like “the woman who tells a joke at a dinner party but nobody laughs until it is repeated, more loudly, by the man sitting across the table.”
Miliband is not in power and governments stealing your ideas is one of the perils of opposition.
Back in the OXO Tower, Miliband's other theme was about "fairness in tough times".
“I want to explain the principles which will guide the Labour Party under my leadership so that we can rise to the challenge of those who say that
Labour is only a party for good times," Miliband said.
“That means three new ways of delivering fairness in difficult times when there is not much money around.
“First, reforming our economy so we have long-term wealth creation with rewards fairly shared.
“Second, acting against the vested interests that squeeze the living standards of families.
“Third, making choices that favour the hard working majority of this country."
He denied that his points were anti-business. "They are pro-business," he said, claiming that firms around the country had asked him to take steps to tackle bad behaviour.
Later though, he added: "No company that is engaging in predatory behaviour should be too big to challenge."
So producers and predators repackaged, to an extent.
"We will be handed a deficit we will have to make choices that we wish we didn't have to make," he said. "[But] we can achieve fairness in tough times."
The other, more unwelcome plotline today, was Ed Miliband's own position as leader. Journalists again and again asked about his poor popularity ratings.
The Labour leader told the Today programme this morning: "Don't declare the result of the race when it is only half run... I have a very strong inner belief I will win the race."
At the OXO Tower, he repeated his long-game analogy. "You can't declare the end of the race when you are only a third of the way through the race."
So what will the critics say about Bring It On 6? Early reviews suggest there are some promising script ideas, but there doubts about the lead role. Is he sassy enough to carry the franchise? Will we need a Bring It On 7?
I honestly don't know. The race isn't over yet.
You can read the full text of Ed Miliband's speech here
Comments
Clr Ralph Baldwin / January 10 2012 2:35pm
Governments lead business and economics, or the other way around? In my experience its the other way around and if there was to be a more equitable Corporate business settlement it would have to be led by the City itself that wield so much power with trillions in assets, they would as major Shareholders have to demand more from themselves and from the companies they have power over. It cannot come from Parliament because Parliament is subject to the summons and desires of the City. The City would then ask its MP’s to negotiate a deal with other Internationals to create a more “responsible” business practice however this would be dangerous as the experience and skill of a City banker is not the experience of say, a major UK developer and does not understand the business environment that said specialist experiences daily, which might place said person at a significant competitive disadvantage to any competition in what is a Global game.
Clr Ralph Baldwin / January 10 2012 2:36pm
Part 2
So without Parliamentary Supremacy over Corporate Supremacy there is little that can actually be done, Gordon Brown mentioned the possible creation of new International Platforms, the problem as we have seen in the EU and other “democratic” organizations is that such bodies would require very strict observation as they are far too easily corrupted. This in turn is due to the fact it is very easy for political parties to place the “right person” in positions on behalf of the Corporations because they themselves do not practice democracy and when such a body is disgraced, it takes years for it to gain any significant credibility as we have seen with the decline of the EC and EU that are barely democratic if at all which protects vested interests.
Ed talks the talk about challenging such interests but still practices the politics of corruption. I knew he was still a Corporate lackey the moment we had the first ever Parliamentary bi-election and he has reinforced it on many levels since then.
Change can occur but Labour cannot deliver it, it lacks the discipline, determination and most of all the desire for a better and more moral world. Ed Milliband's position is untenable...bring it on...indeed.
Clr Ralph Baldwin / January 10 2012 3:19pm
Incidently, in the perverse maladjusted fix of a market we have and that has yet to be a true market the politics and Corporate business politically lead and that is why we are in the mess we are in. The ideal situation would be for Politicians to be objective with all business and maintain as fair an environment as possible. Dealing with corruption is the only way to create a fairer genuinely competitive market and begin to address the problems our shared human behavior causes as a consequence in our society and to our environment. And for that we need Rules. Rules in Law that have legitimacy, truly mean we are equals under the Law and for this politicians are going to have to lead by example. Labour Shadow Cabinet is dominated by brothers, sisters, pals and upper class nobs they are incapable of even managing equality amongst themselves and totally incapable of being objective and professional.