Phone call from Hillary Clinton and then it’s back to Daily Grind

Published: 19 March 2010
by RÓISÍN GADELRAB

PROGRESSIVE voters in Islington will put the Iraq war and Chilcot Inquiry behind them and return to the Labour fold, Foreign Secretary David Miliband told the Tribune during a visit to Angel on Friday

Labour sent in Mr Miliband to help boost Islington South MP Emily Thornberry’s slim majority. He was followed by young Labour activists as he knocked on doors in Noel Road and Gerrard Road.

Ms Thornberry scraped in with a majority of 484 votes at the last election when it was said traditional Labour voters turned to the Lib Dems because of their opposition to the war in Iraq.

Speaking exclusively to the Tribune, Mr Miliband said he was not concerned that the war in Iraq or the Chilcot Inquiry would affect May’s vote.

He said: “This is an election about the future of the country – either a Labour future or Tory future – and Islington has a reputation of being a progressive borough so a progressive vote should come home to Labour.” But Mr Mili­band did admit that voters on the doorstep had asked him about Britain’s involvement in international conflicts. 

“People want to talk,” he said. “They’re slightly intimidated to have the Foreign Secretary on their doorstep. People have asked about Europe, a bit about Afghanistan, how long is it going to go on? 

“I told them it’s a decisive year and what I said in the speech in America – we’ve got the military effort and the civilian effort but it needs to be matched by political strategy, political settlement led by the Afghan government.”

He admitted that it would be a tough election for Labour. “I’m supporting a series of outstanding Labour candidates and [Emily] is one,” he added. “She is, people have said to me in this road already, a fantastic local MP but she’s got an international vision as well, national and international. It’s really important she’s returned to parliament. There’s only one way of having a progressive Islington in a progressive Britain and that’s to vote Labour.” 

Mr Miliband then had to abandon the doorstep to take a half-hour phone call from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before addressing more than 50 activists at the Daily Grind cafe in Duncan Street.

Ms Thornberry said she was overwhelmed by the numbers who had turned up to help canvass, a fact attributed by at least one Labour member to “the Mili­band attraction”.

The minister told party workers: “Unless you elect Labour MPs in places like Islington there’s limited point in electing Labour MPs in constituencies like South Shields. To fight Tory governments the point is to be a party that can join the interests of people who are in the middle of society with those who are struggling in society and we can only do that if we’re a party that em­braces constituencies like this who are at the cutting edge of the concerns of the country. You’ve got an MP who does that.”

Mr Miliband told Islington Council Lab­our group leader Catherine West he backed the local party’s policy of free school meals for primary children, emphasising it was “your pilot”, but stopped short of saying it should be adopted nationally. He said: “If we’re going to think about it nationally we’ve got to think: how do we pay for it?”

Mr Miliband added: “Part of the job of politics is to allow people to make decisions about their own communities that put their own priorities first. So somewhere else might put greater priority on swimming pools.”