My very costly few weeks dating Red Ed
FORMER BBC economics editor Stephanie Flanders yesterday broke her silence over her fling with Ed Miliband, describing it as ‘fleeting and very costly’.
She made headlines last week after it emerged she had been ‘secretly’ dating Mr Miliband when he first met his wife Justine.
In a brief message on Twitter yesterday she said: ‘We “dated” fleetingly in 2004. Very costly few weeks it turns out.’ It was unclear whether Miss Flanders was voicing regret over her relationship with Mr Miliband, was embarrassed by the coverage, or both.
Miss Flanders, 46, also accused the media of ‘raking over’ the Labour leader’s past in the run-up to the election.
In fact the revelation about the relationship was prompted by Mrs Miliband during a softfocus interview, in which she said she first met her future husband at a London dinner party in 2004. She revealed she had been left ‘furious’ when she later found out that he had been ‘secretly going out with’ the woman who had invited her to dinner.
Mrs Miliband did not name the hostess but Tony Blair’s biographer and columnist for the Independent newspaper John Rentoul later revealed it was Miss Flanders. Mr Rentoul added: ‘Could the secrecy have been because he was a Treasury special adviser and Stephanie Flanders was a BBC economics journalist?’ Labour sources dismissed the row, saying it would help dispel characterisations of Mr Miliband as a geek. But one poll yesterday showed a sharp deterioration in Mr Miliband’s approval ratings among women.
The Opinium survey showed it fell by nine points in a week, from minus 12 to minus 21.