Already under pressure from unnamed members of his party over his performances against David Cameron and still struggling to define exactly what the party should be opposing and proposing,Maurice Glasman has taken to the pages of the New Statesman to air his concerns about t.he party's leader.
He writes that
Labour is apparently pursuing a sectional agenda based on the idea that disaffected Liberal Democrats and public-sector employees will give Labour a majority next time around
and goes on to critique what he sees as its Keynesian orthodoxy in denying that its spending policy in the latter years has not had some effect on the current state of affairs that the country finds itself in.
Some argue that his attack is not so much on Miliband but on the shadow chancellor Ed Balls.
Glasman sings praises for part of what Miliband is trying to do
He was right, too, to distinguish between predatory and productive capital. Finance capital, outside of all relationships and calling the shots, is by nature promiscuous and exploitative. We need to call time on its nasty ways.
he writes but then adds that
The problem with Brownite political economy is that, even though it was true that a 3 per cent deficit was not excessive in the context of economic growth, it was debt that was growing at the time, rather than the real economy. A vast, sustained expansion in private debt fuelled the financial sector throughout Brown's tenure as chancellor and then prime minister. There was not enough investment in the productive economy, not enough private-sector growth.
So maybe not the start to the New Year that both Eds had in mind but at least he has some supporters among the former grandees
As the Guardian reports
On Twitter, however, the former deputy prime minister John Prescott said: "Glasman. You know sod all about politics, economic policy, Labour or solidarity. Bugger off and go 'organise' some communities!"
