Miliband mocked for two-kitchen home
IT WAS an attempt to portray Ed Miliband as a “man of the people” by filming him alongside his wife in a small, austere kitchen in their north London home. But the move backfired yesterday after it emerged that the room was in fact the smaller of two kitchens in his £2million home, which he uses only for preparing “tea and quick snacks”.
The apparent gaffe saw Mr Miliband nicknamed “Two Kitchens” — a reference to John “Two Jags” Prescott, the former Labour deputy leader — and mocked by Conservative opponents.
Mr Miliband’s wife Justine took part in a soft-focus interview with the BBC discussing her concerns about the “vicious” personal attacks on her husband.
The couple were pictured walk- ing with their children through a park hand-in-hand and sipping mugs of tea in a humble kitchen.
The images prompted Sarah Vine, Michael Gove’s wife and a newspaper columnist, to mock the kitchen’s “bland, functional, humourless” decor and compare it to “Communist-era” housing.
In an apparent attempt to defend the couple, Jenni Russell, another columnist whose child has Mr Miliband as a godfather, insisted that the room was, in fact, only their second kitchen.
“Ed Miliband’s kitchen is lovely,”
Ms Russell wrote on Twitter, saying the room photographed was simply a “functional kitchenette” next to the sitting room used for “tea and quick snacks”.
When the comments began to gain attention, Ms Russell explained that the second kitchen was more of a “tea prep area” where people “can’t even sit”.
It has prompted political critics to claim that Mr Miliband’s two kitchens showed he was out of step with voters.
Nigel Adams, the Conservative MP, said: “Clearly there’s no cost of living crisis for ‘Two Kitchens’ Miliband. It’s a bit rich lecturing people about poverty from his £2million mansion.
“Red Ed can try as much as he likes to portray himself as a man of the people but the only people he’s in touch with are the north London metropolitan elite.” David Cameron faced embarrassment as opposition leader when it emerged that while he cycled to work to save energy, a chauffeur-driven car followed behind with his work files.
The latest gaffe emerged as Baroness Brady, the businesswoman and Apprentice star, said that Mr Miliband “doesn’t understand” business and the need to “roll up your sleeves” to get things done. The Conservative peer claimed that the majority of businessmen are “very concerned” by the impact a Labour government would have on companies.
“He [Ed Miliband] doesn’t understand business. He’s never worked in business,” Ms Brady told House Magazine. She also hinted that she might run to become London Mayor in the future.