For a man who seeks to claim the statesman-like mantle of Margaret Thatcher, Ed Miliband has an odd way of going about it.
The Labour leader triggered comparisons with the much-mocked soapbox of the Iron Lady’s hapless successor John Major yesterday as he stood awkwardly on a pallet, microphone in hand, to address voters outside a shopping centre.
Despite cutting a rather ridiculous figure campaigning in the South Shields by-election – the seat left vacant by his brother David’s move to New York – Mr Miliband is clearly determined to acquire some of Lady Thatcher’s gravitas.
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Boxing clever? Labour leader Ed Milliband used a wooden pallet to address locals in South Shields but was confused with his brother David who quit as the town's MP
Onlookers questioned how useful the box was at making him visible to shoppers as they milled around the town centre
In an audacious speech today, he will suggest he has the same strength of conviction and determination to change Britain as Lady Thatcher did in 1979.
‘Back in the 1970s it was clear the country needed a new way of doing things – a new settlement – and so too today,’ he will say.
‘The old way of running our economy just doesn’t work any more.’
In a separate interview he praises Lady Thatcher’s ‘utter consistency of ideas’, which he suggests he shares.
He adds that his flirtation with ‘wonky’ concepts like predistribution – his complicated plan to tackle inequality – is comparable with the manner in which Lady Thatcher’s policies and convictions were underpinned by ideology.
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‘People sometimes say I’m too interested in ideas,’ he tells the Left-wing website Politics for the Common Good.
‘But getting the ideas right – the intellectual foundations – is absolutely crucial. And they’re particularly crucial in tough times. In tough times you’ve got to have a robust sense of where you stand.’
He suggests David Cameron lacks similar convictions, adding: ‘There’s no sense of consistency.’
But Tory MP Nick de Bois gave the claim short shrift, saying: ‘Ed Miliband’s record as Labour leader is one of no policies, jumping on bandwagons and never making one tough decision. Lady Thatcher would have enjoyed handbagging him to political oblivion.’
Meanwhile an Ipsos-Mori poll suggests voters also believe Mr Miliband has a long way to go before he is seen as a potential prime minister.
Just 24 per cent believe he is ready to be Prime Minister, with 66 per cent saying he is not ready.
Ballot boxes: Mr Miliband's use of a pallet drew immediate comparisons with Sir John Major's soap box tour during the 1992 general election campaign
To the left: The Labour leader points during a speech in which he rejected David Cameron's claim that 'we're all Thatcherites now'
Brother David’s decision to quit British politics for a big money job running a charity in New York triggered the by-election in the North East constituency.
Ed made a visit there today to drum up support for Labour’s candidate Emma Lewell-Buck during a walkabout and apparently impromptu speech in the high street.
He was immeditaly compared with former Tory Prime Minister Sir John Major, who used a wooden box measuring 4ft by 3ft by 1.5ft to speak to voters in the run-up to his surprise election win in 1992.
He said at the time: 'People say that you cannot do it these days. It is fashionable to say, for security and other reasons, that you cannot get up on a soapbox. I think you have to and I am going to do it.'
Aides to Mr Miliband clearly think the idea should be dusted off again.
An aide to Mr Miliband insisted there was nothing unusual about the pallet. 'Politicians use platforms so people can see them when they are speaking,' he said.
South Shields has had a Labour MP since 1935, securing a majority of 18,995 in the 2010 general election.
The campaign push comes as a new poll puts Labour on its lowest level of support for a year.
Ed Miliband campaigns for Labour candidate in South Shields
Alan Beatie (right) was among the people to mistakenly call Ed 'David' during a town centre walkabout'
Spot the difference: Ed (left) was confused with his brother David (right) who resigned as South Shields MP to take up a job with International Rescue Committee in New York
The IpsosMORI survey found 38 per cent of people backing Labour, with the Tories on 29, UKIP 15 and Lib Dems 10.
Two thirds of people disagree that Mr Miliband is ready to be Prime Minister, 'significantly' behind both Tony Blair and David Cameron at the same point before they took the keys to Number 10.
Two and a half years before Mr Blair became Premier, 59 per cent said he was ready for the top job while 43 per cent backed David Cameron.
Tom Mludzinski, deputy head of political research at Ipsos MORI said: 'Labour are at a 12 month low as voters have doubts that Ed Miliband and his party are ready to move into Number 10.
'While he does have two years to change their minds, even his own supporters are not yet fully convinced.'
Speaking in South Shields, Mr Miliband used his address to dispute David Cameron’s claim yesterday that ‘we are all Thatcherites now’ because no one would seek to reverse the Iron Lady’s legacy.
Mr Miliband said: ‘I don't agree with him and we are not all Thatcherites now," he said.
‘He may have been making the point that there are some things that happened in the 1980s that have not been reversed and people are not planning to reverse.
‘But there are lots of things that do need to change, we have learned about deregulation and the problems that creates.
‘There's things about our society that need to change as well so I certainly don't consider myself to be a Thatcherite and there are lots of people in the country who don't consider themselves to be Thatcherite either.’
Not ready to be PM: A new opinion poll reveals Labour at its lowest level for a year, with two thirds of people thinking Mr Miliband is not ready for power
Safe seat: South Shields has had a Labour MP since 1935, securing a majority of 18,995 in the 2010 general election
More than 30 months after becoming Labour leader, beating his brother David in a bitter contest, it seems voters still have trouble telling them apart – even in South Shield.
According to reports he had to correct several people, including local resident Alan Beatie, who mistakenly called him David.
He told locals: ‘It's great to be here in South Shields. Over the last 11 or 12 years since David became an MP, I have really enjoyed my visits here.’ He later had an ice-cream at Minchella's parlour.
Last month David Miliband stunned colleagues by confirming he was moving to New York to take up a lucrative job with aid charity, International Rescue Committee.
He made little attempt to hide the fact that his decision stemmed from the 2010 leadership defeat he suffered at the hands of younger brother Ed.
He said it would be better for him to be ‘3,000 miles from the front bench’, adding: ‘I didn’t want the soap opera to take over the real substance of what needs to be done.’