COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Ed Miliband has been forced to apologise after he posed with a copy of the Sun newspaper.

The Labour leader said he "understands the anger" people feel after he was pictured holding a special edition of the paper which was sent to millions of homes to mark the start of the World Cup.

"Ed Miliband was promoting England's bid to win the World Cup and is proud to do so," a spokesman said.

"But he understands the anger that is felt towards The Sun over Hillsborough by many people and he is sorry to those who feel offended."

The statement came after Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotheram and city mayor Joe Anderson accused Mr Miliband of failing to take account of continuing fury over the tabloid's coverage of the 1989 disaster, which claimed 96 lives.

Mr Anderson said: "Such clear support for that publication at any time would be wrong but at such a sensitive time is deeply shocking.

"My city was offended and insulted by the lies and smears peddled by The S*n and their hindrance to our fight for justice is something that will never be forgotten.

"For the leader of the Labour Party to make such an offensive gesture insults not only me but every person in the city.

"This is just another example of how out of touch the politicians in their ivory towers are from the lives of ordinary people.

"It begs the question – were the comments he made after the Hillsborough panel report sincere or just sound bites?"

Mr Rotheram, who raised concerns with Mr Miliband face-to-face after the picture emerged, posted on Twitter: "He never meant any offence, but in my opinion it shouldn't have happened in the first place."

Lord Storey, former mayor of Liverpool, told the BBC's Daily Politics: "I don't think people outside of Merseyside realise the great upset and harm The Sun caused to the people of this city".

rebbonk wrote:And as I say, this muppet's likely to be our next PM!

Miliband urged to dump 'blundering' aides after Sun row



Ed Miliband should fire the “schoolboy” aides who told him to pose with a copy of The Sun newspaper unless they put a halt to a string of "elementary blunders", a senior party figure has said.

Mr Miliband faces defeat at the general election unless his media advisers stop making “unforced errors”, Tom Watson, a former member of the shadow cabinet, said.

The affair has added to concerns in the shadow cabinet that Mr Miliband is poorly advised and his office is not up to the job of fighting a general election, Mr Watson said.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “They've either got to lift their game - or move on and get people who can do the job.”

“It was a serious mistake and it's done a lot of damage to our base."

“He was very badly advised. It was his ultimate responsibility to do it but I just cannot believe the paper ended up in his office and someone ending up taking a photograph of it, and it ended up on the internet.

“The people around Ed, they're not civil servants. They're very powerful political people. They carry a lot of power in the Labour party. A lot of Labour members raise funds to pay their very good salaries and to make elementary blunders like this in the week that the Hillsborough inquests were taking place - I think it's a problem.

“I'm sure they'll be a lot of shadow cabinet members who are holding their counsel on this, but they are worried about the way Ed's office operates, and particularly the press operation."

Asked whether such mistakes would cost Labour the election, Mr Watson said: “I think Labour can win. But they've got to sharpen up. I'm saying that we've got the right message on the cost-of-living crisis, we've got some of the very best people at the top of the party, but these unforced errors cumulatively leave us in difficulty and it needs to stop.

“We had a leader of the Labour party who was publicly embarrassed on Thursday because whoever was in charge of press let him go through a process where we had councillors in Merseyside resigning. It was a schoolboy error from someone who doesn't understand the Labour party.”

Mr Watson was one of the most powerful figures in Labour as the party’s election co-ordinator, but he resigned last year in the row over allegations unions were rigging parliamentary candidate selections.

He is a vocal critic of Rupert Murdoch’s business.

Policy chief blasts Miliband's 'cynical' reforms



Labour's policy chief has hit out at the leadership for parking bold reforms in favour of "cynical nuggets of policy" designed to appeal to the press and focus groups.

Jon Cruddas has warned that the top of the party wields a "profound dead hand at the centre" that blocks plans, according to the Sunday Times.

A recording of the head of the party's policy review made at a meeting of the left-wing Compass group captured him attacking recently announced Labour plans to cut Jobseeker's Allowance for 18 to 21 year olds as "punitive".

Mr Cruddas warned the "clock is ticking" but raised fears that interesting ideas were "not going to emerge through Labour's policy review".