Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Ed Milliband said that, or rather he might as well have been saying that in an interview with the BBC. He is showing just how out of his depth he really is. Once again it looks as if Cameron is going to have to prop him up a bit and give him a win at PMQs to try to stop Labour backbenchers from kicking him out.
I have never seen such a robotic, monotonous and repetitive interview in all my life. A truly awful experience, he had his pre-prepared soundbites and was not going to part from those not for one moment in answer to every single question. Like a rabbit caught in the headlights he showed all the emotion of a Madame Toussauds dummy as again and again he repeated himself.
Don't believe me it was so bad? Well don't take my word for it, see what Labour's house magazine says about it. If even they are this scathing then it must have truly been dreadful.
Take a look
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/06/strikes-miliband-wrong
PS - The NS try to say that it is not quite up there as one of the worse claiming Michael Howard's 14 repeats was worse. I disagree - Howard had the excuse of being interviewed by television's toughest interviewer, a real rottweiler - Jeremy Paxman. This was not a tough interview like that...... Milliminor's interview definately takes the biscuit.
Milliband has zero charm, Cameron oozes it. That only tells me one has charm and the other doesn't. Charm is useful, and politicians need it on the international stage (although someone clearly missed that out of the job description sent to Mugabe), but it isn't the whole picture!
Guest 715- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 2,438
They are politicians not candidates for the presenters job on the One Show!
Audere est facere.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
But they should be capable of thinking on their feet and delivering a good and interesting interview - that is very much part of the job description.
Bottom line: communication is their job. We should remember their interviews for all the right reasons.........

Guest 715- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 2,438
Standing up and saying all the right things and actually doing the right things do not necessarily follow, as we are seeing far too regularly.
Audere est facere.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
If a politician cannot communicate then he is as useful as a chocolate teapot.
Thinking on your feet is vital for someone in a decision making role and that Milliminor is clearly incapable of doing. A total waste of space.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
This is highlighting what myself and others have said before, and with full nod to the Tony Blair book of televison performance, you cannot have leaders nowadays who are leaden on television. The blasted elections are fought on televison. Look at the polls following Nick Cleggs performance in the debates if anyone has any doubt.
The message goes out on Televison..if you put people asleep they wont hear your message. No inroads will be made. This is a fact that was grasped wholly by New Labour, not grasped at all by bog standard Labour, who often shrug their shoulders at the polished performance. Big mistake. I think I disagreed previously with Keef on this one.
Ed Miliband to be fair is doing much better on Prime Ministers Questions every wednesday. He has wrongfooted EtonMan several times lately to loud cheers. But harking back for a moment to William Hague when he was Tory leader, he was certainly good at PMQs but it made not a jot of difference at the polls. The programme is watched by Westminster Village aficionados only...so very little mass impact. The only plus factor might be if you are mentioned in good despatches on the national news later in the day.
Tony Blair gave an interview to Jon Sopel at the weekend.. Sopel followed his (TB's) performance for three days in Jerusalem in his Mid East Role. Dont know if any of you saw it but that was the way to do it on televison. All charisma with the people of Jerusalem and with the interviewer.
Is there still a chance for Ed? Well I hope so. He is a decent guy with a fair bit to offer. He was against the strikers, this was because he associated himself with the student riots earlier in the year to much condemnation, so this time was ultra cautious...but his advisers advised him wrongly on this one. Ed fell between two stools.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
he is clearly not of leadership material then Paul...
I have to disagree about PMQ's he has been appalling. The last couple of weeks he has fallen into questions on minor detail which, of themselves are on little importance while ignoring the main issues of the day. A very poor tactic indeed. He started this after making a total fool of himself a few weeks ago. Also, it has to be said, DC does not want Milliminor to lose his Labour Leader position before the next election so DC does soft pedal at PMQ's rather a lot.
Guest 663- Registered: 20 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,136
Lets hope so and Ed miliband can come througth and quiet thoses critics,Tony Blair was the master and had a pretty fair team around him,although they had the knifes out towards the end. Some have said that Cameron has modelled himself along the same lines sorry but no way.

Sad BarryW how quick you write people off Cameron could yet topple off that perch.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i am one that says that jan, dave must have watched every available video of tony blair many times over.
give him credit he has learned it and that got him the vote from blues to be their leader.
the activists and members of the red did the same when they chose tony.
basically the keith wing of the reds and the barry wing of the blues would much prefer different leaders but they know deep down that they would be unelectable with their own personal choices.
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
howard,are you describing monty pythons dead parrots sketch.
becasue we have a dead parrot as prime minister.

Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
I think the days of having a PM that looked like your grandfather, SuperMac, Douglas Home, Wilson and Heath are long gone.There was no doubt that all these leaders although lacking in TV compatability had knowledge ,depth and in their own way care and love for the UK.
It appears now that you have to generate sex appeal,fend off criticism and answer questions with a witty reposte rather than substance. Speeches are no longer delivered 'off the cuff' outside factories or on street corners but are constructed, examined and analysed by a team of spin doctors before being delivered by the frontman PM. Pity really but we have to accept that we live in a 24 hour media circus.
For these reasons DC fares well but ED appears lacking in charisma.David on the other hand seemed to cope well and look good on screen and it's for these reasons that I fel that we haven't seen the last of the Milibands. Should Ed lose the next General Election I think David will reappear as a knight in shining armour.
Of course I could be wrong

Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
These strikes were wrong...
while the talks were going on ... cha cha cha
These strikes were wrong...
while the talks were going on... cha cha cha
these strikes were wrong....
while the talks were going on...cha cha cha
these talks were wrong...
while the strikes were going on...ooo

pps
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i think i would like a glass of whatever you have been drinking alex.
I could do with a change of internal scenery for a while!!!!
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
You would have to open the link Barry supplied on post 1, Howard, and follow the interview, to join in the chorus.
At first it seemed the film had been manipulated, and the same phrases were being recorded all the time. Like a returning chorus.
It's as Barry says, it sounds like a darlik!
I thought maybe the wind-up key behind Ed's back had stopped when the interview ended.
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
As Bern would say ''FFS..give me strength !
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Marek -
Plus a kiss!! XXX