Black out on Red Ed
We were a bit taken by surprise by the Labour leader Ed Miliband's first visit to Northern Ireland, as his party didn't do the customary ring around in advance to tip off media outlets that their boss was in town.
But we weren't the only ones out of the loop - trying to check Mr Miliband's itinerary I put in a call this morning to Boyd Black, the Secretary of the Labour Party in Northern Ireland. Around teatime Boyd called me back, when it became patently obvious that local Labour supporters were even more in the dark about Ed's visit than us hacks.
Maybe we shouldn't be surprised - when he stood for election as leader Ed Miliband didn't sound convinced about local Labour activists' eagerness to contest elections. Questioned about this, he said "how the Conservatives went about it with their interventions in Northern Ireland politics before the election was a classic example of what not to do."
But at least when David Cameron flew over here he normally tipped off his own supporters in advance.
I'm 
Comments