Ed Miliband Bacon Sandwich: Great Image
In May 2015, Ed Miliband resigned as the leader of Britain’s Labour Party after being defeated in the general election by tory Prime Minister David Cameron. Ed’s rise to the top was over. It was a shock to many that have tracked his ascent from a junior monetary policy wonk to coming close to knocking on the front door to 10 Downing St. But to particularly observant observers, his rising star began to burn out much earlier.
To those who in the know had been managing his online image, for better or worse, the downfall started when Ed Miliband ate a bacon sandwich the wrong way.
The day before the local elections in the UK was supposed to be a simple election. Labour held a very slim margin in most opinion polls about a potential UK nationwide election. Ed Miliband went to the New Covent Garden flower market in London to be photographed buying flowers for his lovely wife. Ed made the fateful decision to have breakfast and order a bacon sandwich.
For London Evening Standard press photographer Jeremy Selwyn, the moment was perfect for an awkward photograph. Ed Miliband started eating his breakfast sandwich. Selwyn started taking multiple photos. Ed then bit off more than he could chew, and he wasn’t winning the battle against a gritty bacon sandwich. Most of all, Ed looked very awkward. When Miliband’s team of advisors saw what was happening, they took the sandwich away from him. But it was too late. The damage was done. Within a week, Ed was being parodied online.
The infamous photo was used by many political commentators demonstrating that Ed was out of touch with the public, prone to error and cant even perform a simple task.
The photo was taken in May 2014 for the Evening Standard during the first stop of a multi election campaign tour, and within a week, Ed Miliband was parodied mercilessly online and by multiple media outlets and social outlets.
The photograph became a source of sustained commentary about the former Labour leader. Many people interpreted it as evidence he was out of touch with the public, prone to error and unable to perform simple tasks.
Six years later, Ed Miliband said, “I joked about the bacon sandwich. I don’t think I lost the elections because of the bacon sandwich.
“I lost for deeper reasons than that, and in a way, I shouldn’t console myself by thinking it was just because of a bacon sandwich.”
His family has a track record of images taken of them and food that doesn’t look great online.
His brother David Miliband had a great photo taken with a banana.
