Is Ed Miliband a Future Prime Minister In Waiting?

Is Red Ed a possible Prime Minister in waiting? Or is he just holding the fort for the time being?

I think that to be an effective leader of any political party one needs to act and look like a credible Prime Minister. Unfortunately the current leader of the Labour party comes across as some kind of person from another dimension and to be frank that is not at all ideal in a potential Prime Minister.

In the past many other party leaders have managed this quite easily. A good example from the Labour party would of course be Tony Blair. He had a natural feel good factor which meant that he always looked very comfortable and personable thus making him in some ways highly electable candidate for the highest office in the UK.

The words that I am trying to find are Gravitas and Charisma.

John Major a great PM displayed similar qualities in his own way.

Looking back in the past there have been Politicians who at some time in their career have had this gravitas but then have often lost it and with it their policital career shortly therafter.

Thatcher would be a very good example of a leader who had gravitas and then it slipped away from under her nose as she failed to listen to or understand the voters.

Way back in 1987 Thatcher looked very credible in her star role as Prime Minister and came across as a natural leader always making good progress for Gt Britain on the stage of World affairs.

Not only was she totally confident, calm and collected she earned and deserved respect. However just a few years later by 1990, she was no longer a rising star but a burnt out one. She appeared to have lost the plot and became a liability not only both to her party but also the country.

Cameron gives a very similar performance on the world stage.

When he rose to the occaison at the Tory conference in 2005 and made that speech for the Tory leadership it was clear that this was a man who was born not only tobe a leader in opposition but to be Prime Minister.

Obviously the largest hurdle that any opposition leader has to jump in looking the part clearly depends on the calibre of the opponent whoever is the Prime Minister at the time.

Clearly Cameron is a somewhat seasoned operator and certainly knows his onions. Ed Miliband on the other hand could not find the time to get his name as father on to his first born son's birth certificate!

Looking back over the years John Major appeared to be the most Prime Ministerial but when a new Labour leader Tony Blair was on the scene in 1997, the game had completely changed.

In the run up to 1997 "Black Wednesday" had happened on 16 September 1992 and this was a defining moment of failure for John Major's government and the British economic policy of that time that wanted to link the pound sterling with the German Mark. .

The period to 1997 had been a rather hard parliament but all of these elements were not the real reason for the change in the way Major appeared.

The plain reason was that John Major was now up against a new fast rising star in Tony Blair who had a very clever charm. Back in 1992, he had been contesting Neil Kinnock some one who never looked or sounded as if they ever would be capable to run Gt Britain.

Occaisionally it may be possible to fool some of the people some of the time and appear to act like a future Prime Minister when in fact that is far from the truth.

An excellent example of that is ex PM Gordon Brown who was able to do this in the years running up to when he became Prime Minister in 2007.

Gordon Brown did this by hiding in his office and using many support people including Ed Miliband thus keeping him self out of so many things to the extent that he did not know what Britain was doing in Afahanistan and Iraq.

Gordon Brown kept himself very much out of the political limelight as much as possible and did not allow the Great British public to know what he was really like in reality.

Fortunately for the Conservatives but unfortunately for Miliband that plan is just not available to the opposition leader.

That role is arguably one of the mosttoughest in British politics and ducking away simply will not work. If for example ex Prime Minister Gordon Brown had been in that position he would never have been elected by the electorate.

This I think has to be Ed's greatest problem as he cannot simply do what his predecessor Gordon Brown did and hide away in his bunker and pray for the best. I forget that as he is an agnostic clearly praying can not be an option for him. Well if he can not engage with God clearly he will have to engage with the British public.

He is facing a highly capable incumbent Prime Minister who is having to sort out a very large deficit left by the previous Labour government of which Miliband was a member and his brother David was the foreign secretary.

Ed Miliband appears to be as a gangly rather strange speaking person.

He will undoubtedly remain an awkard type of figure and has already been compared to characters such as Gromit and appears to struggle to communicate clearly.

The reason why Ed Miliband is finding his first hundred days as leader of the Labour party stormy weather and is probably going to fail is that he does not look like a future Prime Minister in waiting more like a labour leader in waiting and one whowill have a very long wait.

This is the reason why Miliband Junior is struggling, so badly and is doomed to fail. Quite simply, he does not act like a Prime Minister in waiting.


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The author writes a great many articles on current affairs and for more information please go to Ed Miliband