Tom Richmond: Labour jibes that insult the electorate's intelligence

I do not accept Harman's excuse that this was a slip of the tongue. Quite the opposite. Labour's deputy leader was delivering a pre-prepared speech and she knew that this one jibe would be picked up by the media.

After all, there was nothing of substance in her speech to the Scottish Labour Party.

Harman is clearly one of those politicians who can only hand out the insults. She cannot take them, When a male political commentator gently mocked one of her Commons performances, she described him as "sexist". Ouch.

Ed Miliband, the new Labour leader and Doncaster MP, has also shown, in the first weeks of his leadership, that he's prepared to get personal to try and make his points. He's doing so because he needs to gloss over the mess that his predecessor, Gordon Brown, made of the country.

I'm perplexed, given that Miliband is one of the more able politicians, that he's not been more pro-active in setting up a series of policy reviews to help Labour prepare for the next election.

One MP said that such a move would be perceived as a sign of weakness. I disagree. David Cameron undertook such an exercise when he became Conservative leader in 2005; it was a key element in the rebirth of the Tory party.

Likewise, Miliband has to prove that Labour has learned from its mistakes if it is to have any chance of winning the election. While jibes at the characteristics of their opponents may cheer the party faithful, they are unlikely to win an election – it is the substance of the policy that should matter most of all and, thus far, Miliband does not appear to have a clear strategy.

By re-appraising Labour's values, and assessing how they can be applied in these austere times, Miliband will be demonstrating whether his party is a serious player on the political stage – or whether it will be using underhand tactics to mask its policy deficiencies.

IT'S not just Harriet Harman, Labour's deputy leader, who has become complacent in opposition. So, too, has Yvette Cooper, the Pontefract MP and new Shadow Foreign Secretary.

Speaking ahead of last week's EU budget negotiations when David Cameron tried to limit future increases, Cooper said the PM should have been working on his strategy six months ago in order to build effective alliances with other European leaders.

Hang on, but Gordon Brown was still – just – the Prime Minister six months prior to the Brussels gathering. When are such politicians going to start accepting responsibility for their financial profligacy, or have they already washed their hands of the past 13 years?

THERE'S now disturbing talk that the three disgraced peers who have been suspended from the House of Lords for the misappropriation of allowances will be able to pay back their dues with the expenses they will be entitled to claim when they return to the Upper House.

I disagree. If the trio are deemed unfit to serve, as agreed, they should be permanently excluded from the unelected and unaccountable House of Lords. And if they believe they have done nothing wrong, they can always stand for election to a new-look Lords – or revoke their peerages, as Tony Benn once did, and bid to become an MP.

I KNOW Pudsey MP Stuart Andrew grew up in North Wales – but does this really justify his recent appointment to the select committee at Parliament that handles Welsh affairs? I'm not sure that this is going to benefit his constituents who want to know what Andrew, whose constituency newsletters have dried up since the election, is going to do to tackle congestion and over-development in the proud Leeds suburbs that he is supposed to represent. After all, he did repeatedly promise –prior to the election – to put his voters first at all times.

DON'T say that I didn't warn you a few weeks ago about Boris Johnson, and how the Mayor of London would exploit every political controversy in order to advance his 2012 re-election campaign. Having thrown his toys out of the proverbial pram to protect funding for Crossrail, he's now used deliberately provocative language in an attempt to force Ministers to water down their plans to limit the amount paid out in housing benefit.

Far from being one of the Conservative party's greatest assets, his self-indulgence has seen him become one of its biggest liabilities because of his blinkered view that the country ends at the outer extremities of the M25.

MUCH has been made of the failings of Britain's sports stars in recent times, but there are two notable exceptions. Javier Hernandez, Manchester United's new striker, has not once complained when he has been kicked or fouled by opponents – he's just got on with the game. He's like a throwback to the past. And, despite finishing second in the big race at Wetherby last Saturday, Grand National and Gold Cup-winning jockey Ruby Walsh was the personification of politeness as he put his disappointment to one side –it was only his second visit to the track in five years – and signed countless racecards for spectators. A true gent who appears unfazed by his fame and fortune.

SPORTSMANSHIP: Footballer Javier Hernandez and jockey Ruby Murray.