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General Election 2015: Truth behind Ed Miliband's soaring approval ratings revealed - Labour employs a leadership guru

Consultancy helps clients build 'leadership skills' and overcome anxiety

Friday 24 April 2015 16:30 BST

Ed Miliband hires a leadership consultant

No wonder Ed Miliband's personal approval ratings have rocketed in recent months - he has hired a consultant to boost his leadership skills.

Labour employs the services of Extended Minds, a consultancy that helps its clients "build leadership skills that deliver lasting organisational change".

It may explain why the Labour leader has seen such a sharp improvement in his net approval ratings. He still has a negative score of -18, but this is a marked improvement from his low of -56 at the end of last year.

According to the leadership consultancy's website, it helps to tackle "the anxiety we all feel to different degrees when communicating an important message to others".

One piece of advice it offers on its website says: "Any new behavior will feel inauthentic at the beginning, and will seem so to others, too. But with repeated practice we move from 'acting' to 'being'.'

A Labour spokesman refused to comment on the story but did not deny the party had hired the consultant. "We never comment on anybody we may or may not have employed," the spokesman said.

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Show all 10

1/10In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Andrew Hawkins (ComRes)

“Events last week have reinforced my prediction that the Tories will be the largest party. Ukip’s slow puncture may help the Tories most, and Nicola Sturgeon may well fulfil her wish to keep David Cameron in No 10 by reducing Labour’s Scottish MPs to numbers that could fit in a stretch limo.”

Andrew Hawkins

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Joe Twyman (YouGov)

“The national picture remains largely unchanged, but YouGov’s Scotland polling shows the SNP at an all-time high. Only 44 per cent of Labour supporters felt Jim Murphy performed best in the first Scottish leaders’ debate.”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Ben Page (Ipsos MORI)

“I need to see a more decisive shift in the polls to think that Labour have definitely moved ahead of the Conservatives. There has been more good news for Labour than the Conservatives, with Ed Miliband’s personal ratings improving. Still, a hung parliament remains the most likely option.”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Rick Nye (Populus)

“No change.”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Nick Moon (GfK)

“I haven’t changed my broad view that the Tories will be the largest party, but Labour is likely to form a minority government. Last week’s projection (Con 280, Lab 273) looks pretty likely to me. The risk for Labour was that, as decision time looms, voters might take ahold of nurse, but that may be mitigated by Miliband’s showing in the debates.”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Damian Lyons Lowe (Survation)

“Unchanged, except for an SNP uptick at Labour’s expense. The SNP’s surge in Survation’s polling continues unabated. Nicola Sturgeon scored well in our debate polling.”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Michelle Harrison (TNS)

“Despite all the sound, fury and bluster, there has been no game-changer. If anything, it’s become even tougher for the major parties, with signs of a softening in Conservative support and continued evidence that the SNP will inflict major damage on Labour.”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

James Endersby (Opinium Research)

“Our latest polling figures, published today, show movement back towards the Conservatives (a two-point Tory lead). My prediction last week of a shaky sway back in favour of the Tories on election day holds fast; and with a hung parliament, who on earth knows who’ll be able to form a government?”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Martin Boon (ICM)

“At the equivalent point before the 2010 election, our poll suggested 37 per cent for the Tories and 31 per cent for Labour, which more or less nailed the actual result. I think that campaigns mostly reinforce perceptions rather than change minds.”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Lord Ashcroft (Lord Ashcroft Polls)

He refuses to make predictions. “My polls are snapshots, not predictions.”

Rex

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