Labour is going through “squeaky bum time” and some of its MPs need
to get on the pitch to start helping win the election instead of
complaining from the sidelines, Sadiq Khan, a shadow cabinet minister,
has said.
Khan, who is a close ally of Ed Miliband, issued the call to his colleagues after anonymous briefing against the Labour leader from some within his own party.
A ComRes poll shows Labour has recovered a four-point lead over the Conservatives, suggesting Miliband and his team have managed to reverse the narrowing polls after a difficult few weeks.
There was speculation some Labour MPs would like to see the back of Miliband amid his low personal ratings and frustration at a disappointing party conference speech. However, talk of rebellion appears to have quietened down since former home secretary Alan Johnson ruled himself out of any leadership race and Miliband gave a well-received speech attacking what he called a “zero-zero Britain” where some of the wealthy were allowed to get away with avoiding tax while others were forced to work on unfair employment contracts.
Khan said some of his colleagues had failed to “understand the rhythm of opposition” in a fixed-term parliament whereby the leadership was working backwards from May with a plan to win the election.
Acknowledging the threat of division to Labour’s chances of winning the election, he appealed for calm to make sure the party did not “wake up on 8 May saying ‘if only we’d been more united, if only we’d been more disciplined’”.
Asked whether he had seen evidence of unrest in Labour, Khan, a Liverpool fan, used a football phrase to explain how he saw Labour’s current situation: “There’s a great Alex Ferguson saying …where in a season when Man United and Newcastle were neck-and-neck, he said it’s squeaky bum time. And I think it’s squeaky bum time for Labour.
“History tells us that whenever Labour loses a general election, we spend aeons out of office,” he told the Guardian. “We fight among ourselves and often spilt … What we’re trying to do is something not done since 1974 – that’s to be a one-term opposition and bounce back from the second worst result in our history. Some of my colleagues need to recognise there’s no rule of politics that means you bounce back like a pendulum. You’ve got to have the humility to learn the right lessons, be proud of the things you got right and earn it.
“We lost really badly and people forget that. But we’re competitive again, and we’ve great set of candidates and policies. Politics is a team sport. It’s really easy to blame the leader. We’ve all got a role to play … Rather than people complaining on the sidelines, they should get on the pitch and help us win the election.”
He also said people should not be surprised that Miliband, who he said had stood up to the Murdoch press and the Daily Mail editor, Paul Dacre, should be on the receiving end of harsh criticism in the same way as his predecessors as Labour leader Neil Kinnock, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown had been.
“Labour leaders on the verge of winning a general election are given a hard time,” he said. “So when people are critical it is worth them asking whose agenda they are following and who it helps, this infighting. United parties win, divided parties lose.”
Polls-of-polls and more detailed analysis of marginal seats still suggest Labour is on course to win a majority at the next election in May. The latest ComRes study for the Independent on Sunday and Mirror puts Labour on 34%, with the Conservatives down one point on 30%.
However, the proportion of those who said they could picture Miliband as prime minister has fallen to 20%, a five-point fall on a year ago, with just 50% of Labour supporters saying they could imagine him leading the country.
Khan, who is a close ally of Ed Miliband, issued the call to his colleagues after anonymous briefing against the Labour leader from some within his own party.
A ComRes poll shows Labour has recovered a four-point lead over the Conservatives, suggesting Miliband and his team have managed to reverse the narrowing polls after a difficult few weeks.
There was speculation some Labour MPs would like to see the back of Miliband amid his low personal ratings and frustration at a disappointing party conference speech. However, talk of rebellion appears to have quietened down since former home secretary Alan Johnson ruled himself out of any leadership race and Miliband gave a well-received speech attacking what he called a “zero-zero Britain” where some of the wealthy were allowed to get away with avoiding tax while others were forced to work on unfair employment contracts.
Khan said some of his colleagues had failed to “understand the rhythm of opposition” in a fixed-term parliament whereby the leadership was working backwards from May with a plan to win the election.
Acknowledging the threat of division to Labour’s chances of winning the election, he appealed for calm to make sure the party did not “wake up on 8 May saying ‘if only we’d been more united, if only we’d been more disciplined’”.
Asked whether he had seen evidence of unrest in Labour, Khan, a Liverpool fan, used a football phrase to explain how he saw Labour’s current situation: “There’s a great Alex Ferguson saying …where in a season when Man United and Newcastle were neck-and-neck, he said it’s squeaky bum time. And I think it’s squeaky bum time for Labour.
“History tells us that whenever Labour loses a general election, we spend aeons out of office,” he told the Guardian. “We fight among ourselves and often spilt … What we’re trying to do is something not done since 1974 – that’s to be a one-term opposition and bounce back from the second worst result in our history. Some of my colleagues need to recognise there’s no rule of politics that means you bounce back like a pendulum. You’ve got to have the humility to learn the right lessons, be proud of the things you got right and earn it.
“We lost really badly and people forget that. But we’re competitive again, and we’ve great set of candidates and policies. Politics is a team sport. It’s really easy to blame the leader. We’ve all got a role to play … Rather than people complaining on the sidelines, they should get on the pitch and help us win the election.”
He also said people should not be surprised that Miliband, who he said had stood up to the Murdoch press and the Daily Mail editor, Paul Dacre, should be on the receiving end of harsh criticism in the same way as his predecessors as Labour leader Neil Kinnock, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown had been.
“Labour leaders on the verge of winning a general election are given a hard time,” he said. “So when people are critical it is worth them asking whose agenda they are following and who it helps, this infighting. United parties win, divided parties lose.”
Polls-of-polls and more detailed analysis of marginal seats still suggest Labour is on course to win a majority at the next election in May. The latest ComRes study for the Independent on Sunday and Mirror puts Labour on 34%, with the Conservatives down one point on 30%.
However, the proportion of those who said they could picture Miliband as prime minister has fallen to 20%, a five-point fall on a year ago, with just 50% of Labour supporters saying they could imagine him leading the country.
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