Miliband told to put fire in his belly by radio listener

Ed Miliband has admitted he has more work to do to win over the public after being forced to defend his leadership amid a hostile reception from radio listeners.

The Labour leader was accused of lacking passion and told to show more fight as his fightback was jolted with a series of criticisms from callers to a phone-in.

He also came under attack from the Tories after claiming attempts to solely blame Labour for the state of the economy were a "deceit" to cover this month's VAT increase.

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Despite unease from some within his own party over the failure to make more of an impact since becoming leader in September, Mr Miliband has bolstered his media operation and impressed many in recent days with his attacks on the 13bn VAT rise.

Yesterday Mr Miliband insisted Labour was not to blame for Britain's huge debt and on a phone-in on Radio 2 he argued the Government was wrong to portray spending cuts and the VAT rise as inevitable rather than being a "political choice".

But the Doncaster North MP faced a series of criticisms from listeners about his leadership and Labour's record as well as facing questions on his personal life.

One caller who described herself as a Labour supporter, told Mr Miliband that he was underperforming as a leader, adding: "I want to see passion and fire in the belly, Ed. You're not getting your messages across. And there's no passion there – you're so laid back."

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Mr Miliband responded: "I always take advice. We will fight as hard as we can. We have to not just fight but to convince people.

"Of course there's further to go for me to set out both what we need to do as a political party and who I am as a politician ... and indeed as a person.

"I know that as a politician, as a person, I have a journey to go on and we as a party have a journey to go on. That comes over time."

Labour had "for the most part" invested wisely, he insisted, although there had been failures such as the revised GP contract.

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He also indicated that he would like to see his brother David – whom he defeated in the Labour leadership contest – return to the frontline.

"I absolutely want him back in the shadow cabinet," he said. "He made a decision which was the right decision for him and his family, which was to stand back from front-line politics for a bit. Let's see what happens in the future."

Tory MP Matthew Hancock said: "Ed Miliband's latest attempt at deficit denial fell apart by lunchtime with radio listeners telling him that he needed to apologise for the mess Labour left behind.

"The more Ed Miliband tries to deny his involvement in bringing Britain to the brink of bankruptcy, the more Labour's economic credibility sinks.

"He says he's on a journey but it's a journey downhill. It's no wonder Labour supporters doubt whether he has enough fire in his belly."