Dumping the Messenger

Daniel Finkelstein made the same point as me the other day with this piece in The Times in which he says that the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, is responsible for the recent gaffe involving his posed photograph for The Sun newspaper - not his various minders and media advisers. 

But he goes on to make a further interesting point about the antics of Tom Watson which is that if Labour loses next year's general election, the left of the party will be quite happy to dump the messenger rather than look critically at the credibility of its message to voters.    

Don’t shoot the adviser. Ed’s the one to blame

By Daniel Finkelstein - The Times



Whether it’s about policy or holding up The Sun, the party leader makes the decisions and should take the flak

I can’t remember where I was on the day that William Hague wore a baseball cap with “HAGUE” on it. The trauma seems to have erased the memory. I feel I was in a hotel in New York, and heard about it on the phone. Yet I also remember watching it at home on the BBC News. These memories can’t both be right.

The one thing I am sure about is that I wasn’t there. I wasn’t at Alton Towers. And I didn’t know anything about a cap with his name on before he wore it. Any Hague adviser ended up being certain about that much. Because we spent the next four years at parties being asked about our role in it.

“No, I wasn’t there. No, I didn’t advise him to do it. No, he didn’t wear it backwards. No, he didn’t wear it in bed, you’re thinking of David Mellor. No, he didn’t wear it at the Notting Hill carnival, that was a different incident. No, I am not sure who had it made. No, he is not planning to wear it again.” It all became very boring, and I am only bringing it up now because of Ed Miliband and The Sunnewspaper. And also Ed Miliband and the bacon sandwich.

Last week Mr Miliband made a minor error which was, admittedly, very inept. He appeared holding a copy of The Sun to promote that newspaper’s free World Cup edition. Then, when a number of party members (predictably) complained, he apologised for the photo. He also told The Sun that he wasn’t apologising for the photo.

This was neither heroic nor competent, and I don’t suppose that Mr Miliband has collected clippings of the coverage to show his grandchildren. The Labour MP Tom Watson thinks, however, that it may be a resigning matter. Not for Mr Miliband, but for his advisers, for “the people around Ed”. He suggested that letting him appear in the photo “was a schoolboy error from someone who doesn’t understand the Labour party”. They have “either got to lift their game or move on”.

Mr Watson is given to extravagant language and ideas. I am pleased to see, for instance, that he is still alive, since 18 months ago he said that his personal safety was threatened by a high-level paedophile network. Yet on this occasion his concerns are shared by others. Shadow cabinet ministers frequently give off-the-record briefings attacking Ed Miliband’s “office”. And the respected MP Frank Field called the leader’s advisers “unprofessional” after unflattering pictures appeared of Mr Miliband consuming a bacon sandwich.

Well, perhaps I am speaking as a lapsed member of the advisers’ union, but I’m sorry. I’m not having it.

First of all, who is to blame for Ed Miliband’s thing with The Sun? Him. He is the one who appeared in the photograph. He wasn’t a hostage, chained to the radiator, holding up a newspaper to prove the date. He agreed to sit there. And it was he who ludicrously did/didn’t apologise. Not his “advisers”, his “team”, his “office”. Him.

It is cowardly to attack his professional staff, who can’t answer back.

Mr Watson is right (although for completely the wrong reason) that the Labour leader’s performance (particularly, in my view, the apology bit) over the Sun photo was lamentable — weak and poorly judged. Yet if it is seriously being suggested that Mr Miliband’s advisers place him in photos and issue apologies without his involvement, then it is indeed a resigning matter. Just not for the advisers.

There is, in any case, nothing wrong with Mr Miliband’s team. He has hired intelligent, capable people who are sharp and do a good job. It is the leader who makes the decisions and when he makes the wrong ones, it is his fault and no one else’s.

I often opened the newspaper to find a columnist who didn’t like William Hague blame something they disagreed with on his “too clever by half advisers”. Usually I wasn’t actually named, but if they had added “his too clever by half Jewish advisers from Pinner who drink Diet Coke and have a tendency to overeat” it wouldn’t have been more obvious who they were asking about. Yet even I wasn’t blamed for the way William ate sandwiches. How absurd is that?

The second point is that usually the errors being complained of aren’t all that bad in themselves. They are metaphors.

Take William’s baseball cap. What, really, is wrong with a cap? It’s just a hat. If I’d been there, would I have stopped him wearing it? Almost certainly not. The reason why it was ridiculed is that it stood for our attempt to modernise the Conservative party. This attempt was seen as false, cosmetic, awkward and insubstantial, and the hat provided pictorial accompaniment. If it hadn’t been that, it would have been something else. Indeed, it often was something else.

The bacon sandwich pictures are striking, but everyone knows that it is possible to take a funny picture of anybody doing anything. The image has gained currency because it sums up the problem that Labour’s leader has. He is not thought to be charismatic. And this is not something his team can do much about, even by arranging for his sandwich to contain, I don’t know, peanut butter or something.

The final point is that in blaming Mr Miliband’s advisers for his troubles (assuming that he has troubles, since he could very well win the next election) it is usually the wrong target that is attacked.

By concentrating on his photocalls and whether they have been professionally organised, Mr Watson avoids (as, to be fair, Mr Field does not) the question of how Labour is positioned on the big issues that will really settle the next election.

Where Labour stands on the economy, its attitude to business, its relationship with the unions, the credibility of its programme for public services, all these matter more than the here-today gone-tomorrow nonsense about appearing with a copy of The Sun.

It is true that Mr Miliband’s advisers have helped to position him on the left, but they have done this because he wanted them to, and they have done it with professionalism and not by accident.

And this, you see, is Mr Watson’s real agenda. If Labour loses with this left-wing prospectus, he wants to press on with these policies, blaming the setback on the poor organisation of photocalls.

He shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.

Blame the Dummy (18 June 2014)

Inside the Labour Party the polite way to attack the leader is to say that he has been badly advised by flunkeys and spin doctors because.

The reason being that the 'Top Man' is supposed to be infallible, a bit like the Pope, so it never looks good if you accuse the leader of making a pig's ear of something, because then the party foot soldiers and voting public might realise that he's human and accident prone after all.

Apart from in the TB/GB years when Gordon Brown's supporters which included Tom Watson by the way) declared open season on Tony Blair and did their level best to pull the rough from under their own elected leader for the best part of 10 years.  

Anyway, said Tom Watson now has his sights firmly set on Ed Miliband's press team for allowing him to be photographed with a copy of The Sun, all of which sounds a bit ridiculous and childish if you ask me, so I hope we get back to some grown up politics soon.     

MP criticises Miliband’s advisers

By Laura Pitel - The Times

Many members of the shadow cabinet are worried about Ed Miliband’s team of advisers, a senior MP said yesterday as the Labour leader came under renewed attack over his decision to be pictured with a copy of The Sun.

Tom Watson, the Labour MP for West Bromwich East and Mr Miliband’s former election co-ordinator, said that posing for a special edition of the newspaper was a “serious mistake” that had done “a lot of damage” to the party’s base.

Mr Watson blamed the Labour leader’s press team for allowing to him to be photographed with a World Cup edition of the paper which was sent to 22 million homes. The picture prompted outrage among MPs and councillors in Liverpool.

The paper has never been forgiven on Merseyside for a story after the 1989 Hillsborough disaster that accused fans of stealing from victims and urinating on the police. It printed an apology for the mistake in 2004, but many in Liverpool have maintained a boycott.

Mr Watson said that while the decision to pose with The Sun was ultimately Mr Miliband’s responsibility, he had been “very badly advised”. He said: “It was a schoolboy error from somebody who doesn’t understand the Labour Party . . . you just don’t win elections if you can’t build that alliance.”

Lord Prescott, the former deputy prime minister, also added his voice to those critical of the move. Asked if he would have posed with The Sun, he said: “Would I have done that? No.”

The furore over The Sun is the latest in a series of mishaps for the Labour leader. Last month he was lampooned after an unflattering photograph showed him eating a bacon sandwich, while in a pair of difficult interviews he blundered over the name of a local Labour leader and struggled to provide the cost of his family’s weekly shop.

Mr Miliband will seek to reclaim the initiative this week as he launches a major report on social policy. The study by the Institute for Public Policy Research, the centre-left think-tank, will say that new fathers should be granted four weeks of paid paternity leave at an increased rate of £252 a week, rather than the present £138.18.

Having It Both Ways (14 June 2014)

Here's a strange tale from the BBC web site which reports that Ed Miliband has apologised for any offence caused by him posing for The Sun newspaper. 

Strange because Ed Miliband must have know what he was doing before he did it, so he should either have declined the opportunity in the first place or answered his critics by saying that this is all in the past and that The Sun has since apologised for its toxic coverage of the Hillsborough disaster which happened 25 years ago. 

But by trying to have it both ways the Labour leader looks rather opportunistic and foolish.   

Ed Miliband apologises for offence over Sun picture

Ed Miliband has apologised for any offence caused after he posed with a copy of the Sun newspaper.

The Labour leader was pictured holding a special edition of the paper which was sent to millions of homes free to mark the start of the World Cup.

Labour MPs have criticised their leader for associating himself with the paper, which has long been criticised for its reporting of the Hillsborough disaster.

Mr Miliband said he "understood the anger" felt on Merseyside about it.

Groups representing victims and survivors of the 1989 tragedy expressed anger at Mr Miliband's actions, one describing them as an "absolute disgrace".

And a Labour councillor in Liverpool, Martin Cummins, has resigned from the party, suggesting Mr Miliband had "listened to unwise counsel in associating himself, and our party, with this degrading publication".

Mr Cummins said: "Seeing Ed promoting the Sun has rocked me to my core."

The Labour leader insisted that he had participated in the photo shoot to show his support for the England football team.

Ed Miliband poses with a special edition of The Sun

In a statement, a spokesman for the Labour leader said: "Ed Miliband was promoting England's bid to win the World Cup and is proud to do so.

"But he understands the anger that is felt towards the Sun over Hillsborough by many people in Merseyside and he is sorry to those who feel offended."

Mr Miliband, David Cameron and Nick Clegg all posed with copies of the Sun.

A Sun spokesman said: "The Sun wants to thank Ed Miliband for having his picture taken and cheering on England to #DoUsProud in Brazil.

"The free edition of The Sun is an unashamedly positive celebration of Englishness, and it should come as no surprise that politicians on all sides are happy to get behind our uplifting message."

'Sensitive time'

The move has caused anger in Liverpool, at a time when inquests are being held into the deaths of 96 Liverpool football supporters at Hillsborough in 1989.


Analysis by political correspondent Chris Mason

Was it a mistake for Ed Miliband to pose for a photo, complete with a smile and a copy of The Sun?

From his perspective, here's the plus side: The Sun is the country's biggest selling newspaper, and this wasn't just an ordinary edition of the paper.

It was being sent free to millions of homes across England.

As a political leader, would you want to miss the chance to look like you're getting in the World Cup spirit?

On the downside, don't underestimate the deep seated anger with The Sun on Merseyside or the depth or longevity of Labour support there.

The question is: did the downsides even cross Team Miliband's mind?

They're not saying - but do point out the Labour leader has written for The Sun before, and will do again.


The Sun has long been scorned in Liverpool for its coverage of the tragedy, after which it criticised the behaviour of Liverpool fans, suggesting they had robbed and urinated on victims and attacked police officers attending to the injured.

In 2012, it published a "profound" apology for what it said was an "inaccurate and offensive" report.

Steve Rotheram, MP for Liverpool Walton, said he and some of his colleagues had met Mr Miliband on Thursday to discuss the matter.

"He never meant any offence, but in my opinion it shouldn't have happened in the first place," he tweeted.

David Cameron and other leading politicians also featured in the paper

The Labour mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said many people would feel "insulted" by Mr Miliband's actions.

"Like everybody in this city I am really hurt and offended by Ed Miliband's support for The Sun newspaper," he said. "Such clear support for that publication at any time would be wrong but at such a sensitive time is deeply shocking."

"For the leader of the Labour Party to make such an offensive gesture insults not only me but every person in the city.

"This is just another example of how out of touch the politicians in their ivory towers are from the lives of ordinary people."

'Hoodwinked'

Writing on Labour list, Labour MP Tom Watson suggested the Labour leader had been "hoodwinked" by the newspaper.

"Scouse friends with accompanying passionate vernacular said that we had scored an 'own goal,'" he wrote.

Lord Storey: "I don't think people outside of Merseyside realise the great upset and harm The Sun caused to the people of this city"

He added: "It's not easy being leader of the opposition. There is always a conga line of trouble waiting at your office door. You're never far away from disagreement.

"And in those tiny moments of rest between the ennui of shadow cabinet meetings, there's a helpful spin doctor who can press a promotional copy of The Sun into your hands."

Margaret Aspinall, chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group - which represents 75 families - said she could not believe the pictures of the three party leaders and suggested "common sense should have prevailed at a very sensitive time for the families".

And Barry Devonside, of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, said it is "an absolute disgrace that the leader of the Labour Party got involved".

'Badly advised'

The Sun backed Labour under Tony Blair but withdrew its support before the 2010 election.

Mr Miliband has had a strained relationship with Rupert Murdoch, the Sun's proprietor, after leading calls for tougher press regulation in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.

Mr Clegg has also been urged to apologise by a Lib Dem councillor in Liverpool for an "error" of judgement in associating himself with the paper's offer.

"I have emailed Nick's advisors to ask what was he doing," Richard Kemp said. "I am particularly surprised at Nick Clegg, as Hillsborough is in his constituency."

He added: "I think he has been badly advised. He is not evil or stupid and I hold his advisers more responsible."

In response, a spokesman for the deputy prime minister said his show of support for the England football team "does not change his views on the Hillsborough tragedy".

"He understands the depth of feeling on Merseyside and elsewhere about what happened and that is why he played a pivotal role in government in ensuring that official documents relating to Hillsborough were released," the spokesman added.

A Conservative source said Mr Miliband's apology was an "extraordinary gaffe" which proved he lacked "moral conviction".