Seven years ago I wrote a column for GQ predicting that Ed Miliband would succeed Gordon Brown as leader of the Labour Party. He was Cabinet Office minister at the time. Ever since then, even though his politics and mine are far apart I’ve felt I had something invested in him. I remember telling my Tory friends in 2011, when he was in some difficulty, that they shouldn’t underestimate him. They smiled wryly and explained how lucky they were to have such a weak opponent. I wonder if they’re smiling now.

  • Last July Ed Miliband did a 45 minute phone-in with me on my LBC Drivetime show. It went so well that I assumed he and his team would want to make it a regular event. A lot of listeners told me they saw a side of the Labour leader which didn’t come across in set piece speeches or interviews. In the end, despite asking every month, we never managed to tie him down for a repeat. I’d almost given up hope when I got a text message saying that he would, after all, do another phone-in with me during the election campaign. When I saw that he was refusing to do something similar with the BBC I did wonder if it would actually happen, but I should have had more faith. So last Friday Ed joined me in our rather glitzy new multimedia studios for half an hour, and right from the off I noticed a new, inner confidence in him. He almost had a ‘Sharron Storer’ moment with Claire from Manchester, who blamed Labour for the death of her mother. You learn a lot about politicians listening to them answer questions like this. They’re on a hiding to nothing, but Ed emerged with his honour intact. The only time I noticed a slight panic in his eyes was when I asked him what England meant to him. It’s one of those questions which can easily trip you up, because it’s far away from the usual subjects which you’re used to answering. He wobbled a little, but no more than that. And then it was over. As he left the studio, he shook my hand and we parted with him saying “I’ll see you on the other side, and if it all goes well, I’ll be back.” I’ll hold him to that. He wants to have a weekly People’s Questiontime in the House of Commons with ordinary members of the public. I reckon he should do it on air too. With me. Assuming he wins, of course.
    *
    I’ve always believed it’s probably best not to shit on your own doorstep, but here goes anyway. Ken Livingstone is a presenter colleague of mine at LBC so whenever I’ve interviewed him I’ve always felt slightly restricted in how far I can go. But on the day when Ken’s bessie mate Lutfar Rahman was found guilty of corrupt practices as mayor of Tower Hamlets I let rip. He had previously accused Rahman’s accusers of being racist. I asked him live on air if he thought the judge was racist, and it went downhill from there. Quite frankly, Ken’s whole stance on Rahman is a disgrace. In his view the ex-Mayor (and how good does that sound?) can do no wrong and if he was a Catholic he’d be well on the way to sainthood. How Ken survives as a member of Labour’s NEC is anyone’s guess. He ought to be up before its disciplinary committee for bringing the party into disrepute. And not for the first time.
    *
    It’s more usual for journalists and broadcasters to move into politics so trust me to do it the wrong way round. Having been a Conservative candidate and written a right wing blog, I always knew I was on a hiding to nothing when I joined LBC in 2010. In the early days it came as no surprise that whenever I did a hard interview with a Labour politician, I’d be accused of Tory bias. However, it’s a source of pride that in five years I’ve never had a single complaint about my interviews. What I have found most amusing, though, is that nowadays I seem to get a lot of social media criticism for supposed anti-Tory bias. It’s as if some Tories think I am somehow letting the side down if I expose the cracks in a Tory argument. My problem is that I don’t believe confrontational interviews achieve very much, so because I don’t generally shout at my interviewees or treat them contempt, some people still seem to think I’m soft on politicians. I suspect Evan Davis would sympathise.
    *
    I can’t say any of the party campaigns have been inspiring so far. None have moved the polls, which is hardly surprising considering they’ve all lacked focus, vision or exciting policies. David Cameron has done a great impression of Stanley Baldwin by playing to a ‘safety first’ narrative. With only a week to go, one can but hope for some vision and for the Tory leader to take a risk or two. Let me suggest one if the PM wants to get a few UKIP votes back. He should rule out a coalition with the LibDems or indeed anyone else. It’ll never happen though. Why do I know that? Because I know two senior – and I mean senior – level Tories who’ve already suggested it to him to no avail.
    *
    Pity the poor pollsters. Ok, don’t then. I don’t know how they drew the short straw, but IPSOS/MORI will be conducting the exit poll for the BBC, Sky and ITN on election night. The egg on their face could be of 1992 proportions, i.e. epic. I’d say it is near impossible for them to get it right. There is no way the outcome in individual seats in this election can be projected by a national exit poll. The ‘shy’ Tory, and in particular the ‘shy’ UKIP voters may scupper the poll’s accuracy altogether. In 2010, it has to be said, I didn’t believe the exit poll which predicted the LibDems would only get 59 seats. I remember blurting out on air, “well if that’s true, I’ll run down Whitehall naked.” Danny Alexander, who I then interviewed, agreed to join me. My justification for failing to live up to my promise was that they actually got 57. Well, no one wants to see a fat bloke naked, do they? Let alone a ginger rodent. Eh, Harriet?

Iain Dale will be presenting LBC’s election night show with Shelagh Fogarty from 10pm on 7 May.