Simon Danczuk has had a meteoric rise over the course of the
last parliament in becoming Labour’s favourite Marmite son.
Never shy of the limelight his regular interventions are
often timely and important. Look no further than the work he has done highlighting
historic cases of child abuse in his constituency and on a wider level.
But, like all politicans, Mr Danczuk has a down side which
is jaw droppingly apparent. His timing, shall we say, can be a little bit
‘off’.
There is no doubt at all that last week’s New Statesman
article was damaging to Labour. At no time, but especially so close to an
election, should a Labour MP be allowed to be quoted that their party leader is
a ‘f***ing knob’.
Doing so immediately before the parliamentary terms final PMQ’s
and then actually asking a question was simply a gift from above for Mr
Cameron.
If you are an MP there is a time and place to go public on
negative views of your leader. A week before the dissolution of parliament
isn’t it.
But, and there is a big but coming, Mr Danczuk made an
important point.
I will guarantee that anyone who has been out knocking doors
in the past few months will have been told at least a few times ‘I’ve always
voted Labour but I can’t vote for Ed’.
A significant minority of voters have arrived at a view,
completely wrongly in my opinion and with no small help from the right wing
media, that Ed is simply not Prime Ministerial material.
There is a strong argument that Labour has kept a fairly
consistent lead in the polls for the past two years not because of Ed Miliband
but despite him.
What Labour and Ed have needed for the past 18 months is a
way of convincing the electorate that he is capable of being a strong leader.
To be fair opportunities have been few but last night’s Battle for Number 10
‘debate’ went a huge way to redress that balance.
Ed wasn’t on fire. Whilst some of his answers (the last
Labour governments record on deregulation of banks) hit the spot for a 2015
audience others were weaker (highlighting the Dome as a major misstep is
probably 10 years out of date).
Others still were undoubtedly a bit cringe
worthy (‘Hell Yes’ was perhaps a little too rehearsed to be authentic and
almost certainly won’t go down as his finest oratory).
The important point however is Ed didn’t have to beat David
Cameron, although on balance he probably did on points, he had to show to the
British public he was credible.
There is no doubt he absolutely did that and in doing so
will give Labour a real boost.
With the polls so tight we desperately need those voters who
previously identified themselves as ‘Labour Yes, Ed No’ to take another look at
us.
Last night Ed gave us the ammunition to make that case
strongly on the doorstep. I know I’m going to be a lot more hopeful out on the
doorstep this weekend.
