A series of Labour figures have responded with anger and derision to the news that Ed Miliband will spearhead the review into why the party lost the general election.
Labour Together, which is running a “cross-factional commission” into the party’s worst election showing since 1935, will assess what went wrong in the December poll.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“It is just so poorly judged by Ed... people are frankly flabbergasted at the breathtaking arrogance of it all,” one Labour source told The Times.
Another disclosed that a WhatsApp group of centrist Labour MPs had become “pretty fruity” when Miliband’s role was announced.
A shadow minister joined the chorus of disapproval, saying: “The party simply doesn’t need a post-mortem carried out by a self-nominated group consisting of a failed leader and his chief of staff who themselves have not given an adequate explanatory account of their lost election in 2015.”
An unnamed Labour MP said: “Those people who have appointed themselves to lead this so-called commission facilitated Corbynism, then enabled it and now want to sustain it.”
Lord Adonis, a former Labour cabinet minister, said: “The funniest proposition since the election is that Ed Miliband should lead a review into why it was lost for Labour.”
Ben Bradshaw, Labour MP for Exeter since 1997, suggested on Twitter that it would be preferable for the review’s leader to have “experience of actually winning a general election”.
However, Powell responded said the criticism was “nonsense”. She told The Guardian that Miliband retained his Labour seat in the “red wall” as others fell to the Tories. She also argued that the former leader has been campaigning in the traditional heartland of Doncaster regularly for the past four years and has as much to offer “as the next person”.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––For a round-up of the most important stories from around the world - and a concise, refreshing and balanced take on the week’s news agenda - try The Week magazine. Start your trial subscription today –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
-
5 treacherously funny cartoons about seditious behaviourCartoons Artists take on branches of government, a CAPTCHA test, and more
-
Political cartoons for November 29Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include Kash Patel's travel perks, believing in Congress, and more
-
Nigel Farage: was he a teenage racist?Talking Point Farage’s denials have been ‘slippery’, but should claims from Reform leader’s schooldays be on the news agenda?
-
What does the fall in net migration mean for the UK?Today’s Big Question With Labour and the Tories trying to ‘claim credit’ for lower figures, the ‘underlying picture is far less clear-cut’
-
Will the public buy Rachel Reeves’s tax rises?Today’s Big Question The Chancellor refused to rule out tax increases in her televised address, and is set to reverse pledges made in the election manifesto
-
Five takeaways from Plaid Cymru’s historic Caerphilly by-election winThe Explainer The ‘big beasts’ were ‘humbled’ but there was disappointment for second-placed Reform too
-
The Chinese threat: No. 10’s evidence leads to more questionsTalking Point Keir Starmer is under pressure after collapsed spying trial
-
Taking the low road: why the SNP is still standing strongTalking Point Party is on track for a fifth consecutive victory in May’s Holyrood election, despite controversies and plummeting support
-
The end of ‘golden ticket’ asylum rightsThe Explainer Refugees lose automatic right to bring family over and must ‘earn’ indefinite right to remain
-
Is Andy Burnham making a bid to replace Keir Starmer?Today's Big Question Mayor of Manchester on manoeuvres but faces a number of obstacles before he can even run
-
Angela Rayner: the rise and fall of a Labour stalwartIn the Spotlight Deputy prime minister resigned after she underpaid £40,000 in stamp duty
