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Daily View: Ed Miliband's attack on phone hacking

Clare Spencer | 09:28 UK time, Tuesday, 12 July 2011

Ed Miliband

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Commentators dissect how Labour leader Ed Miliband has performing in his reaction to the phone-hacking scandal.

Ed Miliband is the only one doing well out of the scandal:

"Usually, opposition leaders bemoan the fact that they can only speak but have no power to act. But at the moment being in that situation is an advantage for Mr Miliband. He has the chance to tap into public outrage with his words, but does not have the responsibility of actually having to deal with legally contentious issues."

Ed Miliband but says it is still impossible to conclude the political fall-out yet:

"Miliband deserves to get credit for being well ahead of David Cameron. His words at last Wednesday's Prime Minister's Questions in which he warned Cameron that he will change his mind on BSkyB were prophetic. Cameron is changing his mind fast. But the mood might shift to one in which voters become worried by politicians interfering with the so-called freedom of the press. Murdoch's empire is an agile fighter and will find ways of hitting out against perceived enemies. The drama is apocalyptic, but where the stakes are highest, revolutionary change or virtually no change at all are both possible."

Ed Miliband needs to carry on defending the freedom of the press:

"In this climate, the geekiness and outsiderish qualities that have caused such doubts about Miliband have proved his greatest assets. Give or take a sausage roll and a glass of prosecco, he owes nothing to Murdoch. That independence makes it all the more incumbent on Miliband to fight as hard as necessary for a free press. He is about to be lobbied by tabloid-bitten celebrities who have appointed themselves guardians of public morality. He should tell them to get lost."

The Ed Miliband as enjoying the scandal immensely when he observed him giving a speech on Monday:

"Mr Miliband's self-confidence has improved greatly during this affair. He now looks an audience in the eye rather than throwing his gaze at his feet or at some distant ceiling cornice. He has discovered his inner sunshine. He is like a dog in a Pedigree Chum advert, suddenly all waggy-tailed and woofish.
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"He has opted for a tone of superior disappointment in what has been happening, as though it has all come as the most terrible shock to him. 'I will accept nothing less than some straight-talking,' he said out of one side of his mouth. 'We need a clear focus,' he said, peering against the glare of the TV lights."

The the dog comparison following Mr Miliband from his press conference to the House of Commons in the afternoon:

"Ed Miliband, who for nine months now has given the impression of a small, yappy dog, barking at the shadow of passing birds, has suddenly remade himself as a pit bull, savage and growling and very, very cross.
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"And the bones he has been thrown, each one bigger and juicier than the last! Royal protection officers suborned! Gordon Brown's bank details and son's medical records allegedly blagged! Scandal spreads to the Sunday Times! News International fighting a last, desperate battle as one by one another husky is thrown to the pursuing wolves! All Mr Miliband's birthday presents for the next 10 years really have come at once."

Mr Miliband might come a cropper if questions are asked about his own head of communications:

"Ed Miliband has consolidated his position in the Labour Party. Labour supporters have enjoyed his ferocious attacks on Murdoch and Cameron in recent days. But does he look any more prime ministerial to ordinary voters? No. His knight-on-white-charger routine will also look less wise if and when questions about Tom Baldwin grow and News International bites back (some time in the future)."

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