Ed Miliband repeatedly clashed with Andrew Marr on Sunday over the Brexit negotiations and how the Labour frontbencher perceives the state of play. Marr put it to Miliband that the EU are demanding that Britain remains tied to the single market, but Ed confidently informed him this was not the case. Ed has not been a member of any government for more than ten years, so it's not clear how he can categorically refute any claim about Brexit negotiations as he is nowhere near the Brexit negotiations.
The truth is revealed seconds later as Marr presses on with his line of questioning and Miliband does a complete u-turn, saying: "We don't exactly know what the proposal is". Ah, right, but seconds earlier you were pretty certain about what it wasn't. Marr lets this go, but then dives in with a killer question about Labour's backing for a post-Brexit deal. He hits Miliband with this after Ed has waffled on several times about how disastrous a no deal scenario would be. "We'll look at the detail" is Ed's response as to whether Labour would back a deal, but Marr is having none of it and accuses Miliband of being 'mealy mouthed'.
Miliband knows how tricky this issue is for Labour. It was a key reason Labour support collapsed north of Watford in the last election and he had been one of those northern MPs who fully supported Starmer's second referendum con trick. He also knows that any vote on a Brexit deal would be fraught with danger for Starmer's leadership because if MPs are whipped to support it there would be a major rebellion that could include senior frontbenchers.
Perhaps it was no great surprise to see Miliband suddenly launch into an attack on Boris Johnson at this point, but his deflection flounders and he begins to almost rave as Marr corrects him. Hard to believe that this was once Labour's leader, especially considering that neither of his polar opposite successors get this animated during interviews. Click below for the extraordinary Miliband meltdown.
