Previous Labour leader Lord Kinnock has joined a growing crowd of Welsh political figures suggesting Ed Miliband to be the party’s next leader. In a chat with the Observer, the previous Islwyn MP gave his backing to the more youthful Miliband, describing him as having the electoral X-Factor. He refused claims that Mr Miliband had a little bit of Blair about him, saying that Mr Blair was a great actor while there’s no thespian in Mr Miliband. Lord Kinnock joins an increasing number of Welsh glad-handers backing the previous Energy Secretary, with 7 Welsh MPs already in public supporting him, including previous Welsh secretaries Peter Hain and Paul Murphy. Lord Kinnock has stayed an influential figure since stepping down after Labour’s 1992 election defeat, particularly among the centre-left of the party and the unions, who will have a 3rd of the votes in the challenge. Lord Kinnock expounded : Ed, I suspect, is terribly bright, including politically bright.
He’s very energized. He’s smooth. He’s got the capacity to provoke folk, which we need.
And that marks him out as particular kind of young potential leader. I’m certain that he’s a modern democratic socialist because he’s got powerful values and he’s really practical. His approach is it’s no good rambling around with convictions unless you wish to put them into practice. Dismissing comparisons with Tony Blair, Lord Kinnock claimed : Tony Blair is a system actor and there’s no thespian in Ed Miliband, so it is that much more natural, far less influenced as it were.
He added : I say that in a loving way for Tony as the thespian humanities have got their place too but Ed isn’t an actor so it’s not the Blair thing, it is just Ed..