Puffbox

I’m really starting to wish I’d put a few quid on David Miliband becoming the next Labour leader. I see he’s on the front cover of this week’s New Statesman, offering ‘My Vision‘. A nice photo of the chap knocking on the door of No10, too. (Shame about the Robert Mugabe photo alongside, though.)

The Miliband piece revolves around the notion of ‘the politics of “I can” ‘: ‘I am convinced that a fourth election victory, and fundamental changes to the landscape of Britain, are possible precisely because a more demanding, educated, savvy population want the power and control that modern progressive politics can offer. I believe the opportunity is as great as at any time in the past 60 years.

‘In the “I can” era, people want to be players, not just spectators. They want to be contributors, not just consumers. Technology is enabling these aspirations to be fulfilled and new institutional models to emerge. Politics cannot stand apart from these changes. A generation is coming to political maturity that expects not just high standards of provision, delivered quickly to specification, but also real control.’

Does that or does that not sound like leadership talk? It’s a clear statement of what Milibandism is all about… and for those of us engaged in the ‘blogsphere’ (to quote Michael White), it doesn’t come as any surprise. He’s only preaching now what he has been practising for a while.

Previously on these pages, I wondered openly if it was too early for him. I’m beginning to wonder again. It’s almost certainly not the timing he would choose, but you don’t often get to make a choice. And Gordon Brown’s appearance with a bunch of kids on Channel Five this Friday is a little cringey, judging by the clips shown so far.

PS: I didn’t realise it was also in today’s Telegraph. I wonder why?