Ed Miliband plots pact with Green Party chief who says ‘the age of Nato is now over’
Ed Miliband could run for Labour leader on a ‘unite the Left’ ticket with the Green Party – which has been accused of cosying up to Moscow.
Mr Miliband’s supporters say the former leader should be selected as the anti-Farage choice if Sir Keir Starmer is ousted.
They also say that – unlike other contenders ‘the only skeleton in Ed’s cupboard is that he had trouble eating a bacon sandwich.’
According to the latest polling, if an election was held tomorrow Labour would win 19 per cent of the vote, with the Greens on 14 per cent – a combined total of 33 per cent. On a crude calculus, that would give a Lab/Green coalition a five-point lead over Mr Farage’s Reform UK, on 28 per cent.
If Ed Davey‘s Liberal Democrats also joined them, the three parties would collectively poll 45 per cent.
Reform and the Tories would command a combined 45 per cent of the vote – although both parties are ruling out any arrangement.
Green Party members are considering a move to advocate UK withdrawal from Nato. They will debate at their spring conference whether to put forward the motion.
Their leader Zack Polanski has said that ‘the age of Nato is now fully over’ and it cannot be reformed by working with Donald Trump – words that will delight Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.
Ed Miliband (pictured) could run for Labour leader on a ‘unite the Left’ ticket with the Green Party
With Sir Keir widely expected to face a challenge to his faltering leadership after May’s local elections, Labour MPs are increasingly talking up Mr Miliband as the ‘safe’ option.
Of the other main contenders, Angela Rayner is still awaiting the findings of an HMRC investigation into her tax, while Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been tainted by his association with Peter Mandelson.
The other frontrunner, Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, was blocked from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election – although he has not given up hope of finding a seat in time.
One Labour MP told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Strong and stable with Ed Miliband – think about it. We are in survival mode. It is not about victory in three years, it’s about whether we can survive intact and blunt Reform. Who is the most stable pair of hands? Who knows their way around Whitehall?
‘The only skeleton in Ed’s cupboard is he had trouble eating a bacon sandwich.’ Miliband was infamously pictured devouring a sandwich in 2014.
The MP said Mr Miliband had strongly hinted at a ‘pact’ rather than a formal coalition with the Greens and Lib Dems, which would take the form of standing down candidates in areas where a split in the Left-wing vote would allow the Tories or Reform to win.
‘Ed is the perfect fit with today’s political culture’, the MP said. ‘Who would the Greens and the Lib Dems talk to on our side about some kind of electoral deal? They won’t do that with Wes, nor I think with Angie. Her political culture is not conducive to that.
‘In fact, when it comes to the leadership issue, Ed is looking pretty sexy.’
Another MP said: ‘I know for a fact that Ed’s position is: ‘I won’t stand in the way of Angela or Andy B. I will work with them.’
The Green Party has been accused of cosying up to Russia after their leader Zack Polanski (pictured) said that ‘the age of Nato is now fully over’
‘I think he fancies Chancellor. He was thinking: ‘If it comes to me, I’ll take it.’ And I know Ed would take the Socialist Campaign Group (a Left-wing group within Labour’s parliamentary party) with him.
‘Also, frankly, we haven’t got that many options. Yes, he lost us an election, but this is a different situation, and he’s not the same politician.
‘It’s not a question of leading us to a glorious victory in two and a half years time but rather, who can stabilise the ship and give us a fighting chance?’
Sources have said that Mr Miliband would model himself on New York’s Left-wing mayor, Zohran Mamdani, if he stood for leader. Mamdani campaigned on a ‘cost of living’ platform, including rent freezes and wealth taxes.
Mr Miliband denies any leadership ambitions, saying he has ‘been there, got the T-shirt’ after leading Labour to defeat in the 2015 General Election.
