David Miliband Comes to UEA

David Miliband dropped in at UEA on Monday, in a boon for the uni’s Labour fanbase.

After the debacle that was the Liberal Democrats’ fall from  grace in 2010, the student vote appears to be wide open.

With support for the Green Party ever increasing amongst students, and some students even pledging allegiance to the traditionally loathed Tories, it seems an opportune time for the former foreign secretary to do a tour of universities and convince students that they should put their faith in the Labour party.

Monday was our turn- and we were lucky enough to be treated to a conversation between David and former Home Secretary Charles Clarke, who is this year a Visiting Professor in PSI.

UEA has a very active Labour Society, who were given their own chance for a quick Q and A session with Miliband before the main talk. An informal discussion was held where members of the society had the chance to explain why they were Labour with answers ranging from ‘family allegiances’ to ‘I hate Nick Clegg’.

At this point, The Tab was very tempted to show David the ‘Awkward Ed Miliband Moments’ Tumblr, but being unsure as to how he would react to pictures of his brother acting generally buffoon-like, we settled on a sensible question about how the recent by-election in Corby has affected the Labour party.

David’s response: ‘We’re back in the game!’ showed his confidence that his party are a serious contender to win the next General Election. What a shame that one can’t really imagine Ed Miliband doing a victory dance around number 10 a la Hugh Grant in Love Actually…

We moved on swiftly to the plush Queen’s Building for the main event. The discussion between Charles Clarke and David centred mainly around international affairs, with the ongoing conflict in Gaza a recurring theme in the conversation.

David likened the conflict to the civil war in Sri Lanka, and expressed that his greatest political regret was not being able to do enough as Foreign Secretary to stop that conflict. The possibility of an EU referendum was also mooted, and David was very clear that he believes we are stronger within the EU than we would be outside of it.

Students and staff had a chance to ask David any questions. Unfortunately for the more scurrilous of our readers, the much discussed relationship between David and his brother wasn’t touched on, but questions were asked about the economy, the Human Rights Act, and perhaps quite oddly, Hilary Clinton- who David described as ‘being fit, tanned and ready to run.’ It’s certainly the first time The Tab have heard Clinton likened to a Baywatch babe!

David Miliband is a very convincing and charismatic speaker, and his passion for ‘Movement For Change’ an organization he has set up to help people earn an Living Wage certainly resonated with UEA students.

The Labour Society are beginning to campaign to make sure our hard-working cleaners and catering staff are being paid a fair amount, and it was great to hear David Miliband’s words of encouragement.

Of course, like most politicians, there were things we questioned in his speech such as his dismissive response to a question asked on how to get more women involved in politics.

On the whole, however, his appearance at UEA strengthened for many their political allegiance to the Labour Party- and even the biggest cynic would admit that a university tour is certainly a very canny move for any politician wanting to secure the ever-important student vote.