London - Finally the autumn party conferences are over. What did we learn? David Cameron does not know, how much a loaf of bread costs. Shock horror. Not such a big surprise, since he already let slip six months ago that he does not know the price of milk. So either the premier does not learn from his mistakes or he actually likes to be seen as posh.
I don’t think heads of government necessarily need to know what a loaf of cheap bread at Tesco’s costs. If Cameron was governing well, he would be excused from doing the shopping. But he is in a lose-lose situation. He is not a good housekeeper of 10 Downing Street in any sense. Eleven million people in Britain live below the poverty line. In the last year the numbers of people who go to food banks to get emergency rations for their families tripled. These people will not be impressed that Cameron tried to make light of his faux pas with the bread price by claiming he and his wife bake their own.
His challenger Ed Miliband by contrast had a great week. He is riding a wave of sympathy. This is something new for the Labour leader. Miliband junior is a serious politician but unfortunately lacks charisma. However, since the „Daily Mail“ printed a very below-the-belt article about his father Ralph under the title „The man who hated Britain“, Red Ed has found allies outside the unions for the first time.
The attack united Ed and his brother David. Since Ed stole the Labour leadership from David three years ago, the older brother tried to digest the humilitation by moving to New York to run the „International Rescue Committee“ charity. Now he is tweeting together with his brother in order to save the family honour: „Our father loved Great Britain.“
Of course he did. Ralph Miliband was a Belgian-born refugee, who ran away from the Nazis and cherished his new homeland ever since he arrived here in 1940. His criticism of the shortcomings of the political establishment in Great Britain were always seen in this context. Ralph Miliband was a Marxist professor and many today would not subscribe to his teachings. (He would probably also think differently.) But to portray him as someone who hated his new home is simply ludicrous. He educated his sons to become foreign minister - David - and leader of the Labour party of the country. Ralph Miliband was a great scholar, a colourful intellectual and an important member of the „New Left“, which had bade farewell to Stalinist Communism long ago.
Even Tory grandees came to Ed Miliband’s side in defence of his father. Lord Moore, once a member of Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet, simply accused the „Daily Mail“ of lying. Backbencher Zac Goldsmith attacked the paper as hypocritical – former owner Harold Harmsworth was a fan of Hitler before the war, describing the Nazi leader as „great and superhuman“. It is less than elegant that the „Daily Mail“ accused an assimilated Jewish family of being traitors to the fatherland. It's bad. Commentator Mehdi Hasan left nothing unsaid on Question time this week: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/10/03/mehdi-hasan-bbc-question-time-daily-mail_n_4039900.html?utm_hp_ref=uk
The „Daily Mail“ misjudged the situation entirely by trying to attack Miliband junior via his father. This backfired. The paper even gatecrashed a family funeral this week to extract statements from family members. Ed has never been so sincerely and credibly upset – and that’s why he is politician of the week. And not David „Baker“ Cameron.
The funniest element of the latest controversy is certainly the hashtag campaign, which everyone – also you – can join. Companies who have bought ads in the „Daily Mail“ are being ask to boycott it in future: http://politicalscrapbook.net/virals/daily-mail-boycott/