12 Things Ed Miliband Wants You To Forget

6. He Praised Margaret Thatcher For Creating An "Era Of Aspiration" During The 1980s... Something Hardline Labour Activists Simply Cannot Countenance

For someone who has been labelled "Red Ed" by his opponents for being positioned on the far left of the political spectrum, it seems bizarre that Miliband would ever praise the queens of Tories herself Margaret Thatcher - but praise her he did. Before the Labour Party Conference in September 2012, Miliband praised Thatcher for creating an "era of aspiration" among the British public during the 1980s. In addition, following Thatcher's death in 2013, Miliband said during a House of Commons debate specially convened to pay tribute to her that, although he disagreed with most of her policies, he said that she "broke the mould", she was able to "overcome every obstacle in her path, and that he respected "what her death means to the many, many people who admired her". Although as Leader of the Opposition you basically have no option but to stand up and speak, at the very least partially in positive terms, about a former Prime Minister once they have died, Miliband's comments on Thatcher alienated some of his traditional working-class base. Thatcher decimated coal-mining, steel, ship-building and other industries in Britain, impacting on many working-class areas. Many hardline Labour activists will not hear a positive word said about Thatcher because of the manner in which she economically destroyed certain areas of the country - and Miliband managed to cause some tension within his own party with his comments about the former PM.