David Miliband: Voters must not gamble on the Lib Dems

Published: 15 April 2010
by RICHARD OSLEY

FOREIGN secretary David Miliband fears the Liberal Democrats have become a major threat to Glenda Jackson’s parliamentary future.

On a visit to Kilburn yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, he reached out to voters who he  is worried could be thinking about supporting the Lib Dem challenge to Ms Jackson’s 18-year stint in the House of Commons.

He warned the “diversion and distraction” of Ed Fordham’s campaign could open up a path for the Conservatives to win and that voters needed to “put their hearts and heads together and see where their values lie”.

Labour’s biggest fear is that what they call the “progressive” left-wing vote in north-west London will split itself and dilute the resistance to Conservative Chris Philp, whose campaign is a key priority in David Cameron’s overall vic­tory strategy.

Touring the cafés of Kilburn High Road, Mr Miliband was the first Cabinet member to assist Ms Jackson’s campaign in the redrawn Hampstead and Kilburn constituency.

In a day when he also visited Soho, Holloway and Somers Town, to provide high-profile help in Labour stress areas ahead of the May 6 General Election, Mr Miliband said: “We’ve got a particular job in constituencies like this because we are fighting the Tories when it comes to who’s going to lead government but we’re fighting the Libs when it comes to seats like this one. We have to say to people: ‘You are either going to have a Labour government or a Tory government. It’s actually a very simple choice and the days when you could waste your vote on the Lib Dems are gone’. 

“We have to say to people that the blandishments being offered to people by the Libs are actually a diversion, a distraction and a danger to things that the people in the constituency care about.”

He rolled through a list of Labour’s achievements since coming to power in 1997 to a crowd of campaign volunteers

“We weren’t talking about queues for NHS beds in 1997, we were talking about queues for NHS trolleys. This community has been changed, but we also want to move forward.”

Labour’s own leaflets carry the slogan that the Lib Dems cannot win in Hampstead and Kilburn. The same message has been circulated by the Conservatives, and in turn the Lib Dem literature confidently rules out a Tory win.  Bookmakers odds and opinion polls actually cast the seat as a three-way battle. 

To diffuse the Lib Dem attack, Labour would rather the contest was portrayed as a mirror of the national duel between Gordon Brown and David Cameron – a scenario in which they believe they would scoop up the majority of non-Tory votes.

The New Journal asked Mr Miliband whether it was credible that he was now endorsing a candidate who had been critical of a range of New Labour policies – including the war in Iraq, the Trident missile programme, student top-up fees and foundation hospitals. 

He said: “We don’t go in for big rows in the Labour Party. I’m glad to say that Glenda Jackson has voted with the government on many more occasions than she has voted against it,” Mr Miliband said. “There’s only one Glenda Jackson – and the constituency knows what that they are getting: somebody who makes their own mind up and does what she thinks is right. She has a good record, a principled MP.”

Ms Jackson said she welcomed Mr Mili­band’s support. 

“He was not Foreign Secretary when we went to war with Iraq,” she said. “The issue of Iraq is not as great at this election but you do see it bleeding into the issue now of Afghanistan. There is less opposition to Afghanistan but there are still concerns.”

The pair – Ms Jackson in her trademark red coat, Mr Miliband in a sharp suit – stood in the High Street canvassing passers-by. One woman with a baby in a buggy was told that the tot wouldn’t get to go to a Sure Start centre under a Conservative government because they would be closed down.