Daily Mail weaves a tangled web over Ed Miliband's love life

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/apr/11/daily-mail-ed-miliband-paul-dacre-metro

Version 0 of 1.

Associated Newspapers must be an odd place to work during a general election.

On Friday, the giveaway Metro covered the election over four pages. Its coverage was broadly fair and balanced (as it has been throughout the campaign). It consisted of two pro-Conservative stories, two anti-Ukip, one anti-Tory, one pro-Lib Dem, one pro-Green and one broadly neutral story.

That all might sound a little unbalanced in terms of Labour and Ukip. There was no redress for Ukip, but there was for Labour. For over the page there was a double-page spread devoted to an interview with Ed Miliband.

Related: Tory press ignores, or underplays, polls putting Labour ahead

The interview was skilfully produced, with an amusing box on Miliband’s likes and dislikes and a solid Q&A about issues of substance. What was lacking were any references to “Red Ed”, “Weird Ed” or any deliberately unflattering pictures.

By coincidence the Daily Mail – the Metro’s (dare one say) ugly sister – also had a double-page spread devoted to Miliband, but this one was of an altogether different hue.

Headlined “Red Ed’s very tangled love life”, it exposed Mr Militant’s rather uncomplicated (dare I say boring) love life before he met current partner Justine.

The writer – Andrew Pierce – appeared particularly outraged by the fact that Justine first encountered Ed when she was a guest at a dinner party given by Ed’s then girlfriend.

Despite the fact that Ed and Justine didn’t start dating for a year Pierce suggests that this dastardly behaviour “offers a fascinating insight into the somewhat caddish character of the Labour leader”. (Caddish? Surely a tad too Bertie Wooster-ish, even for the Mail?)

Related: Ed Miliband in 'politician with genitals' shocker

Pierce then went on, in one of the great non sequiturs of our time, to write: “For, not only did he knife his elder brother in the back by ending his dream of getting the Labour leadership by standing against him ....but he met his future wife Justine (albeit unwittingly) at that dinner party hosted by his then girlfriend.”

So let’s get this right, meeting the woman who some considerable time later you pair off with, at a dinner party hosted by a current girlfriend, is in Pierce’s eyes clearly an outrage. To most sane and sensible people this is some considerable distance from being the height of “caddishness”.

But then the penny drops – this is all a piece with the Fallon attack, with no doubt Lynton Crosby pulling the strings on both occasions. The strategy is clear: undermine Miliband’s character at every opportunity. He is to be portrayed as either too weak to lead the country, too ruthless to be trusted or too caddish to be ... actually I’m not quite sure what.

It is all palpable nonsense and history (and present polling) suggests it might well be backfiring.

In the run-up to the1992 election the Sun had a front page splash: “It’s Paddy Pantsdown” about the then leader of the Liberal Democrats having an affair.

This was seen as a real knockout blow for the Lib Dem leader – or was it? Following the story Ashdown’s personal poll ratings actually went up and he went on to lead his party for a further seven years.

It looks like the attacks on Miliband are having the same positive affect.

To go on doing the same thing time after time and expect a different result is, as Einstein reputedly said, a sign of madness.

So maybe it’s time the Tory tabloid attack-dogs had another think, but I wouldn’t bet on it.