Published on Liberal Democrat Voice 

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 18th November 2014 – 1:27 pm

It’s not every day that you wake up and find that you’ve been quoted in the Daily Fail. The story starts late last night when Ed Miliband got into an argument with Myleene Klass over the Mansion Tax. You can see here on ITV Player how he got his backside handed to him on a plate as Myleene took him to task over his policy. Well, actually, it’s our policy. He nicked it. Maybe if he’d had his own policies, he might have been better at defending them.

Myleene was absolutely and utterly in the wrong as far as I’m concerned. If people are privileged enough to be able to afford a £2 million property, then they should be able to afford a relatively modest tax on that significant wealth.  Forgive me for not having much in the way of sympathy for those rich folk who complain about having to find an extra couple of grand a year. The poor have already been squeezed more than they should have been, by successive governments, including the one of which Ed was a member. If we’re going to be a fairer society, then the rich have to pay their share. It’s a total no brainer. It should absolutely be a no-brainer for the leader of a party which claims to represent the workers of the country.

Yet Ed looked, as is often the case, like my puppy does when she sees a bigger dog coming down the street. He missed a few easy opportunities to make the point that it was perfectly reasonable for the biggest burden to fall on the broadest shoulders. Vince would have done. Remember how he took Boris to task, also on the pages of the Daily Fail, earlier this year. He wasn’t full of sympathy for the well-off:

There are a few genuine cases. But this is not a new problem. It is encountered in the council tax system and under the Government’s spare room subsidy. It can be dealt with in the same way, through discretionary treatment of genuine hardship and, if necessary, by rolling up tax obligations against a future sale, as already happens with individuals and families which have large care bills.

Of course there will be some who need help but most wealthy people can help themselves: Freeing up cash by downsizing as many already do; renting out part of a large house; or using equity release.

If Vince had been in that room, he’d have said all of this with confidence. He wouldn’t have apologised for it in any way, shape or form or looked uncomfortable. He’s have taken on her arguments. The “glass of water” argument was just silly.

My biggest problem with Ed Miliband, who is for me the most likeable Labour leader since John Smith, is that he just struggles with the most basic of messages. You shouldn’t want to give a political opponent, a potential Prime Minister a hug and a soothing mug of cocoa every time he gets overwhelmed on the television. Nick Clegg comes up against much worse than Miliband and he always manages to deal with things with grace and humour. I’ve felt cross with Nick when I’ve disagreed with him but never once have I felt sorry for him.

You just get the feeling Ed would be much happier in a dusty old attic writing worthy books with a sheet of foolscap and some pens. He doesn’t look at home with the political rough and tumble.

Anyway, I tweeted about Ed last night and that’s what the Mail picked up and put in their story:

Caron Lindsay added: ‘Myleene Klass is wiping the floor with Ed Miliband on The Agenda – he could be making case so much better.’

Later on in the show, Ed said he liked A-Ha in the 1980s which I thought was a bit cool for him, especially when he said he had a really “square” haircut in those days. He also joked that he’d hired Kim Kardashian to help him with his photo opportunities. Probably the last name I’d have expected to fall from his lips, but never mind. He seems to have put more effort into that than he put into making the case for one of his flagship policies, though. This is not good.

* Caron Lindsay is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron’s Musings