‘I was being briefed by Ed’s team about their post-election plans,’ the shadow minister told me. ‘It was nuts. They were explaining how there would be “no concessions”, no “tacking towards the centre”, nothing. The way the campaign had been run, the way his operation had been run, that would be the template for government. The whole Zen Labour thing. In the end, I lost it. I said to them, “Well, if that’s the way you’re going to do things, here’s where I get off’’.’ If this person, who won't give their name, has problems with left of centre politics, WTF are they doing in the Labour party?
Isn't the entire idea of a manifesto that it sets out how you are going to run the country. Otherwise you could promise the world and then just do the exact opposite....
"True to his word, Miliband stayed in his Zen-like state to the end. As one insider put it: ‘When he was working on his victory speech with Greg Beales [his speech writer] the exit poll was announced. They stopped, and someone came in and said, “Don’t worry, that poll’s wrong.” So they carried on writing.’ Much of the anger of Labour MPs, aides and officials is being channelled towards one question: how come no one saw defeat coming? Why didn’t anyone senior in the party’s campaign team spot the giant iceberg looming ahead? The Conservatives spotted it. Perhaps not the full scale of their impending triumph, but they were certain (see Sebastian Payne’s article) that they were heading for victory. At about 10 a.m. on polling day morning, I phoned one of David Cameron’s senior advisers. He was the most relaxed I’d heard him throughout the entire campaign." In a parallel world: "True to his word, Cameron stayed in his Zen-like state to the end. As one insider put it: ‘When he was working on his victory speech the exit poll was announced. He stopped, and someone came in and said, “Don’t worry, that poll’s wrong.” So they carried on writing.’ Much of the anger of Tory MPs, aides and officials is being channelled towards one question: how come no one saw defeat coming? Why didn’t anyone senior in the party’s campaign team spot the giant iceberg looming ahead? Labour spotted it. Perhaps not the full scale of their impending triumph, but they were certain that they were heading for victory. At about 10 a.m. on polling day morning, I phoned one of Ed Miliband's senior advisers. He was the most relaxed I’d heard him throughout the entire campaign." Wonderful thing hindsight.
Quite right. This person should be named and shamed. Especially if they are a contender for the leadership. Mr Umunna...