Outgoing Labour MP and former cabinet minister Frank Dobson has slammed Miliband’s inner-circle and the Shadow Cabinet. Firstly he agreed they were all useless, before changing tone:
“Useless isn’t the right word. They’re … not of sufficient quality and clarity.” He is not impressed with much of the shadow cabinet, either. Calling for a clearer message, he says: “It would be considerably assisted if all the rest of the shadow ministers were knocking lumps off opposite numbers. You need to boil things down to a few simple, short, sharp concepts and say them time and time and time again. It’s no good thinking you can convince the public with a lecture that you might deliver to some postgraduate thing at All Souls.”
Whichever wonkish academic could Frank be thinking about?