Plastic Yankness in Labour Leaders

Neil Kinnock signed the death certificate for his chances of being Prime Minister - and the causes of death listed on the certificate were, number one, not being a half-out-of-the-closet Thatcherite who sucked up to Murdoch, two, being bald, three, ginger, and four, Welsh - when he fist pumped and shouted "Well Alright!" on a public stage. 

David Milliband did the same thing when Paxo asked him if he was 'tough enough to be Prime Minister', and he said "Hell yes, I'm tough enough!" on public television. 

A better answer might have been something like: I don't see that 'being tough' is necessarily part of the job, Jeremy - making tough decisions, yes, but not acting like a character in a gangster film.

Blair was a half-out-of-the-closet Thatcherite who sucked up to Murdoch, but he wasn't bald, ginger or Welsh, and he replaced aitches with glottal stops to try and sound like a man of the people (as all English political leaders do now), rather than making an embarrassing attempt to sound like a Yank.