Britain’s opposition chief seeks to find his voice

LONDON: Ed Miliband, one year into his leadership of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, has his work cut out at their annual conference to dispel doubts about his ability to propel them back to power.


Voted out last year after 13 years in office, Labour will be looking to Miliband to set out their alternative vision on repairing Britain’s economic and social ills, at the five-day gathering in Liverpool which starts Sunday.


In a shock result, Miliband, 41, narrowly beat his more experienced elder brother David to the job at last year’s conference, largely with the help of trade unionist votesis conference is “his first chance to establish his public credentials,” said Patrick Dunleavy, a professor of political science at the London School of Economics.


While Britain’s governing Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition struggles to coax the economy into life while also imposing deep spending cuts, Labour under Miliband have yet to establish a clear alternative economic policy.


He said the “big theme” in Liverpool will be the need to “rip up the rule book” and take on “a political consensus that needs to be challenged and changed”.He is keen to avoid falling into the “Red Ed” trap laid by right-leaning newspapers.


However much Miliband presents himself as the representative of the hard-pressed middle classes, Cameron will nonetheless link him to Labour racking up a record deficit during the boom, Fielding said.


All in all, “the fate of the British economy” will decide Labour’s fortunes, he concluded.


If Britain dips back into recession, “Miliband’s chances of becoming prime minister — whether he sounds like a geek or not — massively improve”