'Mandela, Martin Luther King...Miliband?' Labour leader mocked over anti-cuts speech

Published by Ross Macmillan for 24dash.com in Central Government

Ed Miliband has been teased by Cabinet ministers over his soaring rhetoric in an anti-cuts speech.

The Labour leader invoked struggles by the suffragettes, the US civil rights movement and the fight against apartheid in South Africa as he addressed a huge TUC rally in London on Saturday.

Opening a Commons debate on the Budget, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said: "The leader of the opposition should have told the crowds the extent of Labour's cuts.

"I think it would have been much more convincing than comparing himself to Martin Luther King, or more bizarrely, Emmeline Pankhurst."

Intervening, Tory Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford on Avon) asked: "Do you not think it bizarre that the leader of the opposition chose to compare his party's struggle to that of apartheid?"

Coalition backbenchers laughed as Mr Pickles replied: "I suppose there comes an occasion, you know, when there's a lot of people there and you just start to talk.

"These things happen, I think we should be forgiving. I mean, anyone can compare themselves to Martin Luther King."

Earlier at Commons question time, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: "Apparently now the leader of the opposition lines himself up with Pankhurst, Mandela, Martin Luther King - it's Miliband, I don't think it quite works, does it really?"

Mr Miliband's speech in Hyde Park came after a peaceful march by hundreds of thousands of public sector workers demonstrating against Government spending cuts.