Labour Must Be Wishing they'd Elected David Milliband Right Now

Ed Milliband seems to have leapt from limp failure to even limper decay. Short of inspiration, he now seeks to redefine Labour's policies.

Policy Processes

Unable to develop his own conceptions of community engagement and cohesion, the BBC acknowledges that he is attempting to "take that term 'big society' back" from the Conservatives.

Or, the truth is, he is lacking in ideas, forethought and originality.

To debate about the party "losing its way" may seem like a good idea, but the truth is, it merely leaves the party still grasping for identity once again.

Talking about what went wrong is a long winded solution that will simply disempower the party and hinder any election chances it may have left (which are meagre to say the least).

Leaders that have ideas, direction and a strong concept of the party's morals are much more proficient in campaigning and in winning elections. Milliband is lacking all of these and his policy debates are not helping.

Milliband seems to be coming at this Politics game from completely the wrong direction. To look at how to "become a movement again" is a completely illogical approach. A movement starts from a collective of ideas and motivation. It is rather like wanting to go on Dragons Den without an invention.

If the labour party is no longer a "movement", they may as well disband and regroup in common ideas forums.

"Squeezed Middle" Mess

I was listening to his debacle as he attempted to define what he proclaimed loudly as the "Squeezed Middle". The roughly seven disparate definitions he provided were confusing at the very least.

Labour is once again caught in a a web of misidentity, with no concept of how to go forward.

Milliband waffled about the poor, and he waffled about the squeezed middle, but none of his phrasings or stutterings were profound or significant enough for anyone to identify with. He is lacking a clear message and his party knows it.

Milliband rallied his troups today with;

"Join us on this journey which makes us once again the people's party, the party of people's hopes and aspirations, back on people's side, back in power making for the fairer, the more equal, the more just country we believe in."

But the truth is, he doesnt know who his "people" are.

Origins and Originality

The party has divided roots, those which start in Unions, those that start in Conservative animosity and those that started with Blair. Or anti Blair. And that's a wide range of opinion he has to win and develop.

It takes a dedicated and passionate person to enter politics. But it also requires originality and Milliband seems to be lacking this.

He took the Union route to win the leadership election, persuading Unite et al to promote him. But now he seeks to win the Blairite voters, that middle class of disillusioned Tories.

And he seeks to steal the "progressive left" from the Liberal Democrats.

He can't do both, and keep the Unions sweet.

I would imagine there are already grumblings of discontent in Labour quarters about how much more decisive and determined a certain brother would have been in the same position.