Ed

From my WN5 perspective, the horrors that I feared with the return of a Conservative Government (admittedly neutered to some extent by Clegg and Co) have proven to be mostly correct. The saving grace would be that we are over halfway until the next election in 2015.

2 pieces have appeared in recent days that offer an insight into current thinking on the likely outcome in 2015. Paul Goodman’s piece in the Telegraph was highly encouraging for those of us who want to see an end to the current ‘We are all in this together but we really are looking out for our rich mates’  spin.

There then appeared a piece from Dan Hodges in the same paper that struck a chord with me and confirms that Labour are far from home and dry in 2015. Why is Labour’s lead only in single figures given the failure of the austerity plan and the pig’s ear that Cameron and Clegg have made of most things in 2012?

The plain and simple biggest reason why Labour’s lead is so precarious is the ineffectiveness of Ed Miliband. The fact that the Unions overrode the wishes of the PLP and CLP in putting their man in charge of the party could cost Labour power in 2015. Some people are born to be leaders- to take people with them. Ed Miliband is not one of those people. He will not conect with Southern voters and you can see already that the Tories will play on that issue as the crux of their campaign.

The Unions got their man but it may cost Labour the 2015 election. I hope I am wrong.