Ed Miliband: 'Tony Blair gives me good advice' Notice that he does not rule it out. And I later learn that he and his colleagues have been discussing the issue that very morning. They fear (and they are right) that Ed would be accused of unbridled opportunism if he called for an EU referendum in the midst of the euro crisis. But when he tells me that "it's a question for another day," his voice conveys the message "watch this space" more than "case closed." It is time to start thinking seriously about Prime Minister Miliband - to roll those words around your mouth. Whatever response the 42-year-old Labour leader provokes within you - and he has always inspired a broad range of reaction - only a fool would ignore his party's steady progress in the local elections and commanding lead in the opinion polls (15 points ahead of the Tories in the last two YouGov surveys). The cement of popular opinion has not yet set in Miliband's favour. But let us be objective: after two months of Coalition "omnishambles," one has to consider that it might yet do so. When the younger Miliband defeated his brother for the Labour leadership in September 2010 by a tiny twist of the DNA helix, many - including the present writer - thought he lacked the bearing of a future PM. But it must be conceded that he is learning, and fast. Witness the confidence and alacrity with which he answers questions about this weekend's G8 summit at Camp David and the G20 gathering in Mexico next month. I know exactly what we should be arguing for at the G8, and indeed at the G20, and I think it's all about whether you know what your purpose is. There is a real problem in relation to the eurozone, there is a real problem about countries dealing with their deficits - and that is massively important - and there are issues about the banking system. But unless you get away from collective austerity, unless countries take the responsibility to get the world economy moving, if each individual country just perceives austerity on their own, collective austerity, where does the growth come from? In Spain, the level of youth unemployment is 50 per cent. "Political consent breaks down when you get to that sort of position," he says. In Miliband's eyes, only "a growth strategy for Europe" that addresses this, with all its appalling historical resonances, will do. That is the central problem, and I don't think Cameron has a solution to that. So in answer to your question, I know exactly what we would be doing at those international meetings. True, we will have to wait a while for most of the crunchy policy detail that will make or break him. Miliband is only now being subjected to the pitiless scrutiny that a prospective PM attracts. But credit where it is due: this is not the blinking novice who succeeded Gordon Brown 18 months ago, claimed to "speak human" but actually spoke fluent adenoidal, and was scorned as "Red Ed" or an ignoble fratricide. When I ask him what his first measure would be if there were an election tomorrow and he won, he doesn't miss a beat. I know exactly what my first action would be, which is to get the economy moving - and in particular deal with the scourge of youth unemployment which I think is absolutely terrible and is getting worse, far, far worse. That is Day One. It's absolutely necessary. He anticipates my next question. I think here's the defining purpose, though - this is what's really interesting at the moment, and that is why I think it's challenging for the Left and still remains challenging. Our real task is to show we are the party for the tough times, and not just the easier times - and to show that you can create social justice even when times are tough and there isn't lots of money to spend. That's different from the last Labour government. This is the fulcrum of Miliband's policy strategy and of his prospective electoral plausibility. He must promise the voters more than austerity without falsely promising them a public spending bounty. Measures to tackle youth unemployment would, he says, be subsidised by the bank bonus tax. But the challenge for the Left in the early 21st century is to show that progressive politics is possible even when there isn't much cash to spend. "We are determined to show to people that we would manage their money properly," he says. People want to know that you are going to be competent managers of the economy - but they also want to know you are going to make a difference. More than that: they want to know that Miliband is more than an old-school Left-winger pretending to be modern. He is at pains to reassure those beyond Labour's electoral base that he does not set his face against tax cuts on principle, that he understands aspiration. He chose to write for this newspaper on the day after he became leader because he wanted to make clear his determination to act as tribune for "the squeezed middle." Inequality, he says, is now a problem that affects the middle class as much as the least affluent, as the gap between "those at the top" and "everybody else" becomes more and more of an issue. Tomorrow, he will deliver a speech on social mobility - a brazen rolling of Labour's tanks onto Nick Clegg's lawn. No issue has been so important to the Deputy Prime Minister, or inspired such passion in him. Miliband's main charge is that the Coalition's fixation with university admissions is much too limiting. You think, how much have we talked about social mobility for the 50 per cent of people who don't go to university - very little. If you think about the German economy, if you go into occupations in the service sector and so on, you just have a much higher level of training, a much higher standard, much higher wage levels, their economy is built on different foundations and we've got to start thinking about that. Going to my constituency, 30 years ago you'd go down the pit, you'd have a decent wage, a really tough job, but a decent pension, be able to retire on a decent standard of living and, really importantly, status. Status in the community. I think this is where the disconnect of politics and the economy comes together. Another symptom of his growing confidence is the way in which he is drawing upon talent from across the party, rather than the soft Left comfort zone. He drops into conversation the fact that he spoke to Alan Milburn on Thursday. Peter Mandelson has been advising him and even co-authored an article with Ed Balls in the Guardian last week: a meeting of Blairite and Brownite, Europhile and Eurosceptic minds that would once have been unthinkable. In last week's mini reshuffle, Miliband also appointed Lord Adonis, one of Blair's closest allies, to take charge of industrial policy. In so doing, Miliband - a protégé of Gordon Brown - is both making peace with Labour's past and looking for ways to transcend it. I do think that the issue of living standards, the energy companies, the train companies - there is a big set of uncompleted reforms where we thought, a bit like with Murdoch, there was just too much of a sense that these organisations are too big to challenge. Part of our task for the next phase, and which Andrew [Adonis] and others will be working on, is we've got to be the party that shows we can stand up for radical reform in the banking system, in the energy markets, and means it. In all of this, the figure of Blair himself looms ever larger, and Miliband speaks about him with great warmth. I go and see him every so often and he has been nothing but helpful, supportive, friendly, gives me good advice; and I've got nothing but positive words for the way, from the moment I won and he sent me a note of congratulations, he has behaved in a very supportive way. And what was the best advice given to the young leader by the man who won three thumping parliamentary majorities? Oh, the best advice always is you've got to do it your own way. Look, he and I aren't exactly the same ideologically, partly because times have changed, partly for other reasons as well, but his advice to me is: "Never do it my way, because it's not going to work!"" The two men are collaborating on a fund-raising dinner in July. It has been clear for a while that Blair is itching to get back into domestic politics in some shape or form, and has plans to mark the fifth anniversary of his resignation on June 27, 2007. He has been discreetly seeing groups of new Labour MPs under the banner of the Progress group. Six months ago, he saw President Obama privately to offer him advice on renewal in office and re-election. Miliband is coy, evidently longing to spill the beans - whatever they are - but insistent that they are not his to spill. I think we should respect him. It is his decision as to what he wants to do and how he wants to play a role. He is obviously an employable statesman who has a portfolio of things he's doing, and a lot to say about important issues, and he will say them in his own way. In other words - once again - watch this space. What a curious outcome it would be if one of Gordon's political children were to facilitate Tony's return to centre stage. And what a gamble. Blair is an astonishingly divisive figure as well as a political giant. His return to the fray in a role of any prominence might eclipse altogether Miliband's campaign to personify and promise change. But, to risk a mixed metaphor, imagine how many runs Tony and Ed might be able to score against Coalition bowling. There are few things that faze Cameron; but I imagine that, for the self-styled "heir to Blair," seeing his declared role model back on the pitch, bat in hand, might be one of them.