Miliband the sycophant, yet again

Yawn. That's all it induces, as your eyes doggedly scan the text, procuring the scarce semantics conveyed by the tiresome punchlines and lifeless descriptions. The text, exactly? Ed Miliband's latest interview in the New Statesman, of course. If, in some hypothetical, fitting theatrical realm, the Conservative Party was to secure the role of King Claudius, appointing from its considerable array of ministerial actors, the cursed Polonius would no doubt be assumed by Ed Miliband. The Labour leader as ever, offers little in the way of ingenuity, contradicts himself occasionally and intellectually, turns in speechless. Yet it seems as if Miliband cannot even summon the political fight to defend his own party. Labour's legacy in power remains under perpetual Conservative attack; verbal artillery decrying that ghastly, murderous, torturous, massacring, horrible, contemptible, foul budget deficit remains live, the offensive driven forward by battle cries of irresponsibility and of now having to clear up the mess. And Miliband offers no defence. He simply sacrifices himself as the fodder to the Tory cannons. And for no obvious reason.

Miliband rattles through the Conservative script, as if having been somehow compelled to do so by the Tory Chief Whip. 'Politically crackers', is the description offered to any alternative to austerity, and young readers are left with the familiar scar of apathy and disgust inflicted by Miliband's punches of realism, which now insist there will be 'no promises' to reinstate the Educational Maintenance Allowance. Ed Balls we are assured, has been 'proven right on [supporting] austerity' and holds no standing conflict with Miliband. The same Balls who only this July, damned the 'failure' of continental austerity and demanded 'urgent' investment in order to 'stimulate' economic growth? Surely not? Having offered society's poor a threadbare promise to 'make work pay' while demanding their 'self-responsibility', Miliband then immerses himself in a false splendour of irony that stretches far beyond humour; I knew it, he insists, knew it, that 'supporting the Tory deficit plan' would cream the Lib Dems into the shit. Oh dear, Ed. Oh dear.

You see, Miliband is a sincerely frustrating individual. He could question the very axiom of the Conservative austerity programme. He could, possess he the mere nous, enlarge and print the following graphic onto a sheet of paper, to accompany him at every political occasion:

He could toy around with the golden rule across the first five years, invoke the European soul from within, and then hail the three-percent rule. He could point to the fallacy of all such rules in response to the economic cycle, pointing to numerous crises and noting in particular, the banking catastrophe of the late 2000s. He could even, even, if he so dared, annihilate the mould that decays and frustrates contemporary fiscal debates by querying as to whether or not the Conservatives, in accordance with their current mantra, would have engineered the collapse of conceivable capitalism in refusing to guarantee or bailout the immoral institutions of finance. If not, Miliband could even describe the very kind of mess, or joyous state of affairs that would now be left behind.

                                                                                        

Miliband could carry the above around, too in addition to similar balance sheets describing every other Western 'economy', pointing to the pathetic failure that underpins every kind of rule, target and policy. To hell with it, the sheer nature of capitalism, its inherent explosive capacity and its ruthless manipulation and distorted distribution of resources may even get a mention. 

But no. For this is rigid, plain, O'so plain, Ed. Pandering to conservative elements of the electorate is yet another mechanism in Miliband's vastly disorganised electoral tool box, which he hopes can unlock the door to parliamentary power in 2015. The majority of the electorate may not know that Labour did in fact, operate upon an initial, and quite substantial budget surplus. They may prove ignorant to the fact that Labour's largest, pre-crisis deficit stood at a mere 3%, while national debt in relative terms, hovers at a position of historical safety. Unfortunately for Miliband, however, they are unlikely to fall for yet another Blairite. If Miliband is Polonius, the electorate is certainly his Hamlet.