Milibae: Red Ed hits Notts

Following in the footsteps of his big brother, Labour leader Ed Miliband today spoke to UoN students and party activists on Jubilee Campus as part of his Euros campaign.

The air was filled with anticipation as a crowd gathered outside seminar room C33 in the Exchange Building, at the centre of Jubilee.

The invited audience, compromising of students, labour activists and a whole raft of journos took their seats at half 12, in a friendly circle around Red Ed’s lectern.

Despite being billed to arrive at 1pm, Miliband The Younger kept the baying crowd waiting a good half an hour before arriving all smiles.

Heavies were on hand to ensure no eggy business

No one would leave David hanging

The stride of a powerful man.

When he eventually began to talk, after having local MEP Glenis Wilmott sing his praises for a good 10 minutes, he wasted no time in whacking out some classic clichéd political anecdotes about “ordinary people…struggling to make ends meet.”

He then finally got down to taking questions from the audience, shedding his blazer to prove he was a real man of the people.

Ed letting his pythons breathe

Questions were fielded from a wide variety of policy areas, from big issues like the NHS or education all the way down to why someone’s dad should vote Labour.

When quizzed on tuition fees, Ed at first seemed confident promising to “not be Nick Clegg” and promise what he couldn’t deliver, but offered little in the way of real solutions to those facing huge bills for uni education.

An enthused Tab writer and a labour party activist quizzing his leader over the UKIP threat

He went on to address the concerns of local voters, mispronouncing the name of a Nottingham suburb in the process, and the party faithful were hugely enthusiastic about his performance.

Local Labour activist Andy Furlong told BBC Radio 5 Live :” I thought it was a good and strong performance…Ed nailed the issue of immigration really well.”

But others were less enthused. Helen Williams, a Politics lecturer at UoN, said: “I’m still floating after the experience today…I’m tired of Labour apologising for immigration.”

Overall Ed Miliband performed entirely predictably, cementing his already strong policy credentials, but offering little in the way of strong leadership.

But, even though only 24% of voters reckon he is up to the job of prime minister, he still takes an alright selfie: