Labour Party staff have pleaded for members not to speak to any journalists at an Ed Miliband event tonight. What could legions of party members do to derail the ‘real Prime Minister’s’ event?
The Energy Secretary will be the special guest at the launch of the Southwark Labour 2026 manifesto this evening at a venue in East Dulwich. Also in attendance will be council leader Sarah King and housing minister/Miliband ally Miatta Fahnbulleh, who is MP for Peckham…
An email from party organisers to attendees has warned Labour members off daring to speak to assembled hacks:
“You will be asked to show your Labour Party membership number and/or photo ID for security reasons. The press will be at the launch, but please do not talk to them. We will be taking photos and video of the whole event which will be used in political campaign materials – if you do not want to feature in the photos, please let [RECACTED] know and we will make arrangements. If you could arrive at 6.30pm and we will get our campaign off to a flying start.”
If approached by a journalist remember the three steps: stop, drop, and roll…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”