Mugged By Pussycat
| GG as a Pussycat in Big Brother |
The article from The Mail on Sunday is a perfectly executed 'hatchet job' on the Labour leader - Ed Miliband - but to be honest Ed should have seen this coming a mile away.
Quite what the Labour leader thought he was doing by having a secret, cosy meeting with the Respect MP is a mystery - one that always had the potential to blow up in Ed's face, as I predicted in a previous post - 'Come Into My Parlour' dated 25 April 2013.
Well now it has and in quite spectacular fashion and the whole episode leaves Ed Miliband looking - well, frankly ridiculous - because he has a penchant for identifying himself with left-wing causes which offer little other than empty political slogans about the challenges facing the country today.
So, I really don't know where Ed goes from here - this was a relatively small tactical mistake, but it only serves to highlight underlying strategic problem about the Labour leader's judgement.
The only thing that can be said for certain is that in Sunday morning George Galloway must have had a smile on his face - that would do justice to a Cheshire Cat.
MPs' fury as Miliband praises Galloway for his by-election victory over Labour
'Friendly' 45-minute chat covered a range of political and personal issues
By Simon Walters
Ed Miliband faced a growing revolt last night over his secret meeting with Respect MP George Galloway after it emerged that Mr Miliband had congratulated him on the way he beat Labour in a by-election.
The controversy over Mr Miliband’s talks with Mr Galloway – who was thrown out of the party in 2003 for his attacks on Tony Blair over the Iraq War – intensified after full details of the meeting in the Labour leader’s office were revealed for the first time.
Well-placed sources have told The Mail on Sunday that:
- Mr Miliband said he wanted further meetings – but in a secret location so Labour MPs did not find out about it.
- The two discussed Mr Galloway’s fierce criticism of US foreign policy and opposition to British troops in Afghanistan.
- They had a ‘warm’ chat and talked about Mr Galloway’s friendship with Mr Miliband’s late father, Marxist academic Ralph Miliband.
- The Labour leader said he admired Mr Galloway’s campaigning skills and his ability to woo ethnic minority voters.
‘And I regret the fact that he has not felt strong enough within the Labour Party to defend a meeting which he himself asked for. It was perfectly respectful on both sides. He asked me if I knew his father and I said I knew him well and respected him very much.’
A Labour MP said last night: ‘Ed Miliband should spend less time listening to people like Galloway who are despised by most Labour activists and more time listening to his own MPs.’
The new account of the meeting in Mr Miliband’s Commons office makes a mockery of claims by the leader’s aides that the two men met briefly to discuss boundary changes in parliamentary constituencies.
In fact boundary changes took up less than five minutes of the friendly 45-minute talk, with the rest of the conversation covering a wide range of political and personal issues.
At one point Mr Miliband ‘congratulated’ Mr Galloway on his by-election victory over Labour in Bradford West last year by more than 10,000 votes.
The Labour leader praised Mr Galloway’s social media campaign and his success in ‘reaching minority voters’.
Most damaging of all is the disclosure that Mr Miliband suggested they had further meetings, but away from prying eyes.
The Mail on Sunday’s disclosure last week that the two men had met caused a furious backlash from Labour MPs who regard Mr Galloway as a traitor.
On Wednesday, Mr Galloway publicly praised Mr Miliband’s ‘high moral character’. But the mutual charm offensive ended when, under mounting Labour pressure to disown Mr Galloway, Mr Miliband denounced his ‘awful’ views and said he did not want him back in the party.
Mr Galloway hit back by accusing Mr Miliband of lying and branding him an ‘unprincipled coward with the backbone of an amoeba’.
The meeting took place after Mr Miliband’s office emailed Mr Galloway saying the Labour leader was ‘keen to meet’ him.
A source said: ‘It is absurd to say it was over a Commons vote on parliamentary boundaries. Galloway had already told Labour’s Chief Whip that he would support them over it. They talked about the British and international situation.
‘Galloway said Labour should do more to resist austerity measures. He urged Miliband to press for a faster withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan and to distance himself from American foreign policy.’
An ally of Mr Galloway said: ‘George is very angry at the way Miliband has lied about this meeting.
'It was clear that he was interested in George’s views and took them seriously. He was surprised to be invited to Miliband’s office and still isn’t sure what his motives were.’
A Labour spokesman said: ‘As we have always said, this meeting was about constituency boundaries.’
