Why Ed Miliband should resign now

[silverfox]

Yesterday, Ed Miliband criticised David Cameron over the strikes. Fair enough.

However he made the following statement:

"...I'm not going to criticise... dinner ladies...people who earn in a week what the Chancellor pays in a week for an annual skiing holiday..."

Much cheers from the Labour bench here.

Now, I've tried to quote Ed verbatim. However the point is, here is a Labour leader out of touch with those he claims to represent.

I guess (don't know for a fact) that the Chancellor pays thousands for a week at one of the exclusive ski resorts he frequents. Which makes Ed Miliband's statement all the more stupid.

Shame, I liked his father's (Ralph) work. Okay a bit of a champagne socialist. However, if Ed thinks lowley paid workers earn such amounts in a week after tax that they can aspire/afford an skiing holiday at an exclusive resort then "Houston, we have a problem"

Resign now Ed, do Britain a favour.

[HAL9000]

For the sake of accuracy:

Cameron: "He is being tested and he is showing that he is weak, left-wing and irresponsible."

Milliband: "Unlike him, I?m not going to demonise the dinner ladies, the cleaners, the nurses. People who earn in a week what the chancellor pays for his annual skiing holiday."

Quoted from the Financial Times

It seems reasonable to assume that Milliband had meant to say, "People who earn in a year ...".

[silverfox]

It may seem resonable to assume that but that is not what he said and that is not what the Labour backbenchers rah rah rah-ed to

[StraferJack]

Insomnia is a terrible affliction

[Huguenot]

If you think resignation is the minimum penalty for a meaningless and disinteresting slip of the tongue, what is your proposal for those who drive the economy back ro 1930 by decimating the public sector before putting in place systems to empower private business?

[Jeremy]

It was surely a slip of the tongue, rather than a case of being out of touch... right?

[katie1997]

Of course it was. SJ got it spot on.

Politicians have material written for them by speechwriters and their political advisers. Getting the figures wrong when reading out a statement is hardly news. Nor is the rahrahrahing from the ones that haven't picked up that he's given the wrong figure.

Didn't one Minister famously almost read out the line 'pause for laughter' when giving a speech? Hilarious.

[????]

...an on the same grounds, a PM who doesn't even know the dates of the 2nd World War - despite a very expensive education - should be handed his P45 surely?

Can you not do better than this Silver?

[Undisputedtruth]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10719739

Not just getting the dates wrong but claiming Britain played a bit part in the war. Truly shocking. Not exactly a slip of the tongue but actual stupidity.

[El Pibe]

He got the dates wrong, but substantively he wasn't wrong.

In terms of defeating the nazis Britain was, relatively speaking, a junior partner behind the US and more importantly, the Soviets. You only have to look at how Churchill was increasingly sidelined in the Yalta and Potsdam negotiations to appreciate that.

Or count the divisions.

This was the phrase Cameron used, NOT 'played a bit part'.

[Ridgley]

I think in order for Labour to be credible, need a strong believable leader unfortunately EM does not have it.

[Otta]

Surely he meant

"...I'm not going to criticise... dinner ladies...people who earn in a YEAR what the Chancellor pays in a week for an annual skiing holiday..."

Not saying it was a good swipe, but his only actual crime is getting his own swipe wrong. Hardly a cause for resignation.

[Jeremy]

Maybe the Chancellor gets a cheap ?300 deal to Bulgaria when he goes skiing?