Miliband vs Daily Mail: Significant political turning-point?

„In the longer term, Miliband may have struck a blow for more than his own party. For Cameron, for example, the paper could yet prove a double-edged sword. No doubt he is counting on its backing in 2015. But one of many possible scenarios if Cameron wins a second term could be that he leads a campaign for a Yes vote in a European referendum – against the opposition of the Mail.

This may not greatly worry Michael Gove, who, while endorsing Miliband’s »moving« defence of his father, also pointedly defended the »freedom of the press« and it’s »right to offend«. Yet this is not a Leveson issue, however much the Mail tries to make it one. It is wholly possible to oppose statutory press curbs while welcoming a counter-attack by its unjustified targets. Baldwin (pictured) was not seeking to curb the press, only to argue back.

When he did so, everyone present realised how big a moment it was. Diana Cooper wrote: »I saw the blasé reporters, scribbling semi-consciously, jump out of their skins to a man.« Her husband won by 5,710 votes and went on to become one of the leading anti-appeasers of the 1930s. In time, Miliband’s stand may come to be seen as Baldwin’s was: a victory for the elected over the unelected.”