Since the party conference season, Ed Miliband has managed to set the agenda on the cost of living. As
Monday's Guardian/ICM poll shows, the public agree that they are not seeing, nor do they expect to see, the proceeds of any growth the UK is experiencing under the current government.
Many of the ideas that have come to characterise Ed Miliband's leadership – such as
predistribution, the
squeezed middle and
predator capitalism – were mocked at the time. But the popularity of the policy initiatives that have come out of this work show not just Ed's intellectual consistency, but also that the thread of what is coming to be seen as an important part of Milibandism – popular market interventions – has been there throughout his three-year leadership of the opposition.
As a declared Milibandite, I find my greatest frustration is not with Miliband's policy prescriptions, but his lack of faith in those of us who want to sell them to a wider audience. Following the revelations as to
who Labour's election team are consulting – Alastair Campbell, Alan Milburn, Matthew Doyle among others – there are few, if any names on there who would be considered key Milibandites. Once again, Ed finds himself surrounded by advisers and lacking in outriders.
Lots of people are going to puff themselves up by telling Miliband how they won elections, but they were very different elections under very different circumstances. 2005 may be the last time Labour won an election, but 1997 was the last time we gained seats. And the answers that worked for the public then simply will not wash now. We've all moved on.
The fact that there are no women on the Labour election team at all is also extremely worrying, and not just because Labour should be better at reflecting and understanding the diversity of the electorate than this. Senior female figures have led the party away from the tired, old fashioned and increasingly unhelpful top-down tactics that were starting to fail us in 2005 and had distinctly lost their lustre by 2010.
It is widely acknowledged that Labour held certain seats despite the national campaign, not because of it. Where local activists had the confidence to take control, ignore the centre and do what worked locally, we unexpectedly held on to seats that we were expected to lose. So where are
Gisela Stuart and Caroline Badley – stars of the unexpected Birmingham Edgbaston hold in 2010 – on that election team?
A big part of Milibandism is not just the policy prescriptions but the importance of the dispersal of power – both in the UK and in the Labour party. This consistently seems to be the hardest part to implement. Resistance from those for whom the centralisation of power and politics works – let's call them the old boys – is not being recognised as the key fight that it is. But everything else flows from it: from policy, strategy and the ultimate implementation of core values, all demand that this happen.
Miliband has people in his circle who both recognise this and have played a key role in helping the Labour party move towards it. The chair of the party, Angela Eagle – who pioneered the
Your Britain website – should certainly be involved in these discussions; Jon Cruddas – head of policy review – is another key part of the equation missing from the list; and
Arnie Graf, who has spoken truth to power and is working with Labour members to reach beyond branch meetings and fundraising dinners to actually engage with communities.
Also missing from the heart of this work is Ed Balls – the man who will steer Miliband's economy changing ideas through the Commons if and when Labour come to power. Some may like to add this to the continued briefing against Balls – the shadow chancellor
has not had the best of weeks after all. But these kind of personality-driven rifts are exaggerated by those who still think that Labour politics can't and shouldn't move beyond New Labour and the titans at its top. Neither Ed believes this and neither Ed is going anywhere.
Ed Miliband might win the next election by playing it small. But it would not give him the mandate to do what he wants to do and what needs to be done. If he is going to do that, he has to make sure it is his vision that is being sold to the country. Not a reheated, rehashed, rerun of a failed strategy. If he doesn't, there will never be such a thing as Milibandism. And we will all be the worse off for it.
