Ed Miliband has come under ferocious pressure to show greater political courage after his close ally Lord Glasman said his leadership seemed to have "no strategy, no narrative and little energy".
Glasman – often described by the media as Miliband's intellectual guru and creator of the so-called Blue Labour movement within the party – has revealed his frustration at the way Miliband performed last year, claiming he concentrated too much on preventing party division and defending Labour's "toxic economic record" rather than offering a transformative new leadership.
Writing in the New Statesman, he complains: "Old faces from the Brown era still dominate the shadow cabinet and they seem stuck in defending Labour's record in all the wrong ways – we didn't spend too much money, we'll cut less fast and less far, but we can't tell you how."
In a caustic assessment, he says: "Labour is apparently pursuing a sectional agenda based on the idea that disaffected Liberal Democrats and public-sector employees will give Labour a majority next time round. But we have not won, and show no signs of winning, the economic argument. We have not articulated a constructive alternative capable of recognising our weaknesses in government and taking the argument to the coalition. We show no relish for reconfiguring the relationship between the state, the market and society. The world is on the turn, yet we do not seem equal to the challenge."
He asserts that it looks as "if Labour is stranded in a Keynesian orthodoxy with no language to talk straight to people".
Arguably, the attack is aimed as much at the economic strategy of Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, as it is at Miliband.
Glasman says he still has faith in Miliband's leadership, but suggests that if he is to offer the possibility of a transformational Labour government, then "2012 must be a year of surprises, of engagement with the people and their concerns". He goes on: "Ed is going to have to show some leadership and courage if the political dynamics of this year are to be different."
Labour officials refused to comment on the article, which comes as Miliband's personal poll ratings remain low and tensions over political strategy on the economy, welfare and spending are surfacing.
On Twitter, however, the former deputy prime minister John Prescott said: "Glasman. You know sod all about politics, economic policy, Labour or solidarity. Bugger off and go 'organise' some communities!"
Although Glasman has no official role in the party leadership and is just one of the intellectuals Miliband consults, he was appointed a peer by Miliband for his free-thinking politics and, in the past, has been seen as influential. No recent meetings have occurred between the two men.
Blue Labour is an elusive complex of ideas, including community management, decentralisation and a rejection of liberal economics partly designed to win back working class support.
Miliband is due to come out on the front foot next week, but has been urged to move faster or risk seeing his "responsible capitalism agenda" being seized by coalition leaders who will inevitably command more media attention.
Glasman – who has made other controversial interventions that he has come to regret – insists Miliband has shown bold leadership in the past, for instance by advocating a living wage, an alternative to tax credits and welfare. He also suggests that advocacy of workers on remuneration committees "must be the start of a fundamental change in corporate governance".
In an attack on the current party link with the unions, he claims that New Labour's inheritance includes an "excessive reliance on managerialism in both the public and the private sectors, a disregard for the workforce, and an unhappy and abusive relationship with the unions". He says the party will not get out of its mess unless it changes these relationships.
In words that are likely to be gathered as ammunition by the chancellor, George Osborne, he writes: "The problem with Brownite political economy is that, even though it was true that a 3% deficit was not excessive in the context of economic growth, it was debt that was growing at the time, rather than the real economy. A vast, sustained expansion in private debt fuelled the financial sector throughout Brown's tenure as chancellor and then prime minister."
He goes on to attack some of the central insights of Brownite economics, and so by implication the thinking the shadow chancellor, writing "Endogenous growth, flexible labour-market reform, free movement of labour, the dominance of the City of London – it was all crap, and we need to say so."
He says: "Miliband needs to break out of internal party discussions and address the issue of national decline and how to reverse it. A balance of interests in corporate governance, a vocational economy, regional banks and fiscal discipline offer a platform for growth."
He sums up by saying that Miliband had kept the party together in 2011 and avoided a party split, but as a result "he has not broken through. He has flickered rather than shone, nudged not led".
"It is time for him to bring the gifts that only he can bring. He should leave behind stale orthodoxies and trust his instinct that change is essential. Now is the time for leadership and action. So far Ed has honoured his responsibilities but has not exerted his power."
Glasman later denied that his comments were meant as an attack on Miliband and attempted to play down his role behind the scenes.
"I have never been a senior adviser to the Labour leader. I am a backbench Labour peer and an academic."
Comments
4 January 2012 6:26PM
Very difficult, in all honesty, to argue with that
4 January 2012 6:31PM
"Blue Labour" tories who have not crossed the floor yet still hankering for the king over the water, Tony Blair.
4 January 2012 6:32PM
I can't say I'm surprised - Glasman tried to foist his unpleasant and regressive ideas onto the Labour Party and received very short shrift. I must say I respect Ed Miliband more for rejecting the dreadful Blue Labour. It hardly does Glasman credit that he throws his toys out of the pram, but it's at least helpful that he has shown himself to be petty and small-minded. We can now consign his ideas to the scrapheap.
4 January 2012 6:33PM
I stopped reading at 'his close ally Lord Glasman'. Have you been in a coma for the last six months, or do you just write like that?
Glasman has been criticising Miliband and more or less everybody else ever since he realised it was a surefire way to get into the papers, whilst Miliband stopped being so enthusiastic about Blue Labour when it became apparent that it's a load of froth with no concrete proposals to offer. There is transparently not a close alliance between them any longer.
4 January 2012 6:34PM
Excellent critique but the obvious conclusion is..........?
4 January 2012 6:35PM
Yet infinitely preferable to robotic Ed with his complete absence of charisma, or any human qualities whatsoever.
Charlie Brooker's 2011 Wipe showed a compilation of the infamous "same answer" that will be to Miliband what miming the Welsh National Anthem was to John Redwood.
Say what you like about his brother, but he at least appeared human, and would put a spring in the step of labour supporters, as opposed to us holding our head in our hands.
4 January 2012 6:36PM
It's not actually an attack aimed at miliband but Balls. hence his comment:
Endogenous growth, flexible labour-market reform, free movement of labour, the dominance of the City of London - it was all crap, and we need to say so.
That is squarely aimed at balls. His criticism of Miliband seems to be that he's letting balls define party economic policy when balls is part of the problem and unable to move on from an economic position clearly rejected by the electorate
4 January 2012 6:36PM
Maybe there aren't hidden depths to the Labour leadership. They've perhaps decided just to criticise the government, offer no alternative and wait till the coalition makes some more mistakes.
4 January 2012 6:37PM
Link up with the EDL
4 January 2012 6:40PM
I think Milliband is struggling and he needs to start taking risks.
He needs to announce a something bold and controversial to get the media's attention and get the public talking. If your reading Ed, here are my suggestions:
1. Nationalise Bus services: On a trial basis, bring back proper bus services to a few towns around the UK. Possibly do the same with trains. Use the recent fare increases as ammunition and draw some comparisons with the popular systems on the continent.
2. Decriminalise cannabis for medicinal purposes: Join the US's liberal states and a growing movement across Europe. The Daily Mail's message boards appear to show, their readers will even support you.
Go on ED, do something risky. MAKE POLICY.
4 January 2012 6:41PM
He seems to be saying that Labour can't be considered credible if it champions workers, the poor or the disabled. In fact, the very reasons the party was formed.
Just another arm of the establishment corruption, batting for the greedy, exploiting the weak. Miliband should tell him to go to hell.
4 January 2012 6:42PM
Seriuosly, who is this guy?
He was thrust into this paper last year for having an opinion.
If I have an opinion do I get to become a Lord too?
Rent-a-gob: another US import we neither need nor deserve.
4 January 2012 6:42PM
I'm sorry to say this, and I wish it wasn't true, but Ed has got no chance.
He has barely laid a glove on Cameron and he isn't going to.
The Tories want Ed more than anybody else does.
Let's not kid ourselves folks, if things don't change, it's not going to end well...
4 January 2012 6:43PM
Lord Glasman is right and if the LP doesn't listen and take action and sack Ed Milliband then it stands no hope of ever winning a GE. Is there anyone who could replace Ed? Yes David (no not Cameron- Milliband!)
4 January 2012 6:44PM
This is just Lord Glasman politically moving to try and force through Blue Labour.
I am sick of hearing about Blue Labour.
4 January 2012 6:45PM
In essence, Glasman is Blair-lite ... but blue - whatever that means. I don't want a Laobur party that shuffles around looking for a poll niche. I want it to lead on progressive policies: top of the list is sustainability. I suspect that is what Miliband wants, so the only area I have in common with Glasman is that I want Miliband to tell the Labour party (dodo/dinosaur that it is) to follow him to the future - and it is green, not blue.
4 January 2012 6:45PM
bah
*This is just a political maneuver by Lord Glasman
is what I meant to say.
4 January 2012 6:45PM
It makes sense that the Conservatives have a leader hailing from Eton/Oxbridge.
What's Labour's excuse?
4 January 2012 6:46PM
I'm sorry, but I might have agree with you once but I do not want a man as PM who has proved that he is prepared to cover up torture by the British state.
4 January 2012 6:47PM
The obvious leadership would be to get rid of this reptile.
I was thinking the other day when he popped up saying how Labour could be caught in a Tory trap if it didn't distance itself from "tax and Spend" that he was right. Tax and Spend allows the Tories to frame the argument. Labour should stick to being the party of investment and jobs.
4 January 2012 6:49PM
Glasman needs to shut up. Blairite labour has failed the UK by setting everything up for the Tories, especially privatisation of the NHS.
Ed appears to be a waste of space. If her can't get a grip very soon, he's dead. He could announce a salary cap of 300k or higher taxes for those on 300k+ salaries.
Let's start hitting those that bleed the rest of us dry.
He needs to show he wants a cohesive, not divided society and one that hammers the fleecers.
Maybe he's holding back for the election but we need passion and aggression now.
4 January 2012 6:49PM
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4 January 2012 6:49PM
Doesnt like foreigners, does like the EDL.
4 January 2012 6:51PM
Nevermind the Blackburn fans with their Taxi for Kean ... time for a Taxi for Miliband .... Get your finger out !!!
4 January 2012 6:55PM
Ed Millband joins in with the Tories, kicking people on benefits and cheerleading for ATOS. He's disgusting and also has zero charisma.
4 January 2012 6:55PM
I don't see how people think glasman is blairite - if anything he wants to turn the clock back to a 50's version of labour. Disliking brown and being socially conservative doesn't make you blairite. Old labour was socially conservative and not keen on Brown's PFI and Best Value initiatives
4 January 2012 6:57PM
Well he's right about Miliband, who is comically inept, but the rest of it sounds like just more 'get at benefit scroungers' crap.
4 January 2012 6:58PM
Although Glasman's Blue Labour ideas are mostly pants, his criticism of Ed Milliband's leadership in this article seem fair to me.
Come on Ed, show some initiative and attack the failed Tory neo-liberalism dogma.
4 January 2012 7:01PM
This is so true. He has no direction. I have no idea what the party is supposed to stand for since he has been in charge, For that reason I left the labour party.
4 January 2012 7:01PM
All true. Unfortunately the Labour Party are past master at 'kidding themselves'.
Everybody in the country can see Ed isn't up to the job, everybody but the Labour Party apparently.
4 January 2012 7:04PM
Lets be honest - the only direction Labour is going under Ed M is DOWN!
4 January 2012 7:05PM
All you people on here attacking Glasman for being 'Blairite' do realise that that's the polar opposite of what he is - right? You do realise that he is opposed to most of the key ideas behind free market middle way blah?
Call me an old dinosaur, but I think it's a good plan to understand what someone stands for before attacking them for it.
4 January 2012 7:05PM
Unfortunately for all of us and not least democracy, he has no principles but in saying that he is not unlike a lot of others on all sides. Too focussed on public opinion, too afraid of saying what they really believe - if anything at all!
4 January 2012 7:07PM
Hmmm most of the press are still blaming labour for the current economic mess, stirring up fear of debt and much of the public swallow it. Yet the Labour party has consistantly led in the polls.
The job of the press is to ferment party disunity, to drag up nobodies to sew discord and help parties tear themsleves apart. A party with the stigma of the 2008 crash still around it that is still relevant in the polls is not doing too badly.
The tory press want to see Labour tear itself appart and the Guardian is still hankering after the Whigs.
4 January 2012 7:09PM
Or maybe this is just another hatchet job by the now Tory-supporting Guardian?
4 January 2012 7:09PM
I agree with everything above, but it only makes sense when you connect the dots and look at the big picture:
1 - Maurice Glasman's Blue Labour is a drive to make Third-Way Blairisn ('Capitalism-is-our-Friend'-and-yes-we-are-neoliberal- BUT-not-as-nasty-as-the-Tories) look fresh and relevant again.
2 - As such, the enemy of this neoliberal sell-out has always been the 'Brownite' thinking that Balls represents.
THEREFORE
3 - Glasman is part on the Blairite attack machine that has mounted 12 attacks (maybe 11, if David Hough is friendly) on Ed Miliband over the last 3 week. Their sole purpose is to sustain the Third-Way sell out., thereby keeping Labour 'tory-lite'.
This is getting tedious and counterproductive.
The Greens will be the only beneficiaries - and not for a good few decades, yet - unless these people stop their incessant whining and let the Labour Party jump from 1994 to 2012.
The alternative is too vile to contemplate - twenty years of "free-at-last" Toryism once the Lib-Dem 'cover' is neutered by the electorate in 2015.
4 January 2012 7:09PM
The real shame about Ed Miliband is before becoming Labour leader when he was obviously more free to speak his mind I heard him interviewed at length a couple of times on the radio and he came across extremely well. As a disgusted ex-Lib Dem I felt I could vote for him. But since becoming leader he's obviously being micro-managed by Labour's infamous advisors (the idiots who got Brown to grin like a loon) to the degree that he's being utterly stifled.
Having heard what he geniunely has to offer when allowed to naturaly be himself I'm of the opion it's not him who needs to be fired by the Labour party, it's those insidious fools who are managing his every word and move.
4 January 2012 7:11PM
You don't know who he is but you know he is a 'US import.'
He is not. He is a Londoner; like Ed.
One of the reasons for the Labour Party's problems is that it so many involved with it prefer abuse to reasoned argument.
4 January 2012 7:12PM
Blairs socially conservative agenda is right at the heart of Blue Labour. Crime, people on benefits, foreigners.
The only difference is the distance between then and the neo-liberal policies. But as that is electoraly toxic as the assets we had to buy of the banks its hardly a brave move to drop it.
4 January 2012 7:13PM
Have you already forgotten that this is the party that could not generate an alternative to Gordon Brown?
4 January 2012 7:14PM
Cut from similar cloth as that other intellectual giant and 'pink un' , whose only expectation of shots fired in anger was from the east end of Glasgow, John Reid.
4 January 2012 7:14PM
'no strategy'?
He has no idea. That's a full stop.
The original Mr Nobody.........And a number of CIF commenters have been impressed (though I see 58% of his own party members haven't been).
Makes you wonder what planet some people inhabit......
4 January 2012 7:15PM
Lord Glasman's focus upon the relational echoes Bruno Latour, yet is self contradictory, dialectically flawed, particularly in reference to global immigration and labour markets.
4 January 2012 7:16PM
There are two bags of rotten apples. At the top of one of the bags is a really rotten apple called David with a maggot called Nick at its core. At the top of the other bag is a somewhat bruised apple called Ed. Small choice, but I know which I prefer.
4 January 2012 7:16PM
Your comments are as vacuous as Ed's.......
4 January 2012 7:18PM
If you had "friends" like Lord Glasman, wouldn't you be concerned about party division?
4 January 2012 7:19PM
Well said.
4 January 2012 7:21PM
Nice but failed attempt to shoot the messenger.
He's someone who Ed M has called his guru and to whom he gave a peerage. So Ed clearly knows who he is and rates him highly.
4 January 2012 7:23PM
Miliband has no allies, says strategy
4 January 2012 7:24PM
Yeah but the problem with Glasman is he suffers from an extreme case of verbal diarrhea meaning half of what he comes out with is incomprehensible blather. He was on Newsnight a few months back and it was a constant struggle trying work out what the hell he was chuntering on about.
Perhaps if he were more succinct and clear in expressing himself more people would actually be able to understand what he proposes rather than feeling like they're wading through a tide of arcane, esoteric drivel.