Ouch, ouch, ouch:
In case you missed it too, part 1 of the Ed Miliband interview masterclass took place in July.
I do have some sympathy with the way in which he is suffering from the decision of picture editors to use unflattering photographs of him (even in The Guardian) but interviews like these will do nothing to discourage them from the collective instinct which now says, “Ed Miliband photo needed? Let’s pick one that makes him look foolish or out of his depth”.
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9 Comments
Frankly the name issue is the least of his problems. He looks amazingly dopey. Then there’s the issue of all his little phrases and hesitations.
“In the School Debating Society, I was voted Boy-Least-Likely-To-Complete-A-Coherent, erm…”
How can he be expected to govern in the national interest if he doesn’t even know the names of the people standing for the Scottish Labour leadership who he’ll have to work closely with to help lead Labour to where it needs to be.
Meh, having trouble remembering names can happen sometimes. I have many issues with him and his party, but this is basically the kind of slip of memory that I’m prepared to forgive.
The caption gives the impression that he doesn’t know any of the names of the leadership candidates, whereas he actually knows two out of three. Rather misleading. I have to say that I haven’t heard of Mr. Mackintosh, (perhaps because I’m not Scottish and not a member of the Labour Party), and I often have problems remembering names.
I think the three ouches should actually be directed to Scottish Labour who have managed to find the onlty three people in the known universe (and no doubt some unknown ones too) less impressive than Ian Gray.
I don’t see why, and the problem is by no means limited to him and if anything I feel much more aggrieved when our own people do it, why he feels ‘good PR’ requires dishonesty. Claim: ‘they’re not especially well known’. Reaction: ‘Oh how can you say that, writing people off etc etc’. But of course he doesn’t know them which means… they’re not very well known. It’s no reflection on them as candidates, but if the party leader doesn’t know them it’s fair to say the average punter probably doesn’t either (though I imagine most Scots with an internet connection known Tom Harris. I certainly do). So why not be honest about that? ‘I don’t know them especially well myself but that’s one of the great things about leadership elections they allow people to raise their profile and allow us to have a debate about where we’re going as a party’ and so on. People need to get it out of their head that lying is an essential part of good media handling; it isn’t, and if you lie about the small things like whether you know someone particularly well why the hell would any sensible person assume you’re being honest about the economy (which is a roundabout way of saying: Vince Cable, David Howarth and the rest of the minority fringe of fetishistically honest political figures FTW).
I think Duncan is on the right track. It may be he had just forgotten the one for a moment – so why not just say that ?
That’s what a normal person would do ? It’s like George Bush but without the charm.
What struck me is how similar his body language, gestures and some of his phrases are to Tony Blair’s. eg “Come on, you know..) Eeerie !
If only he presented himself as well as Nick Clegg, then he might be worth voting for.