Ed Miliband, I’m
sure, knew exactly what he was doing when he spoke to the TUC yesterday – being
heckled was just a bonus for him. His
words weren’t really aimed at those sitting in the hall, they were aimed at the
television cameras, and the hecklers merely ensured that they made the news.
He, and his party’s
strategists, will have concluded in advance that the trade union delegates – in
England, anyway, which is where the bulk of them live – have nowhere else to go
politically. It doesn’t matter what
Labour do or say, they’re not going to turn to the Tories or Lib Dems; their
votes are safe.
Outside the hall,
however, Labour need to attract back the votes which Blair attracted in three successive
elections, and it is to their prejudices and opinions that Miliband needs to
appeal, since – like most politicians – he’s more interested in saying what
people want to hear than in offering an alternative vision.
I don’t know
whether it will work or not, but the accolade of being heckled by the TUC will
certainly do him no harm. It could
almost have been scripted.
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