12 Things Ed Miliband Wants You To Forget

7. Miliband Won His Party's Leadership Contest Due To Support From The Trade Unions... Making It Appear As If He Really Is "Red Ed"

Tory-supporting newspapers and certain prominent Conservatives love to paint Miliband as "Red Ed" - claiming he is so far to the left of the political spectrum that he is practically a raving socialist. Although Miliband himself will not necessarily mind in some ways being labelled a socialist, he certainly realises that the perception he is about to drag the next Labour administration far to the left would be extremely damaging to his electoral chances. The Labour leader does not play up the "Red Ed" image as such, instead trying to position himself as a politician who is thoroughly for the people, but the manner in which he beat David Miliband during the 2010 leadership election may put the frighteners up many centrists and moderates. David Miliband beat his brother in all parts of the vote - including the MPs and MEPs section (17.81% to 15.52%) and the Constituency Labour Party section (18.14% to 15.20%) - except the affiliated organisations third of the electoral college, which Ed claimed 19.93% to his 13.40%. This third and final section is the part of the Labour Party controlled by the trade unions - and that will add fuel to many people's fear that Ed Miliband is simply a puppet of the unions. That appears to be an image that so-called "Red Ed" will struggle to ever shake off.