Labour leader Ed Miliband read from motivational notes during the leaders’ televised debate (above) He was widely criticised for his robotic performance in last week’s debate as he failed to land a convincing blow on David Cameron. Now it has emerged Ed Miliband was reading from motivational notes during the leaders’ clash – including one reminding him to be a ‘happy warrior’. His cribsheet prompts him to turn a ‘negative’ into a ‘positive’ and reveals he had planned a number of the put-downs he used on David Cameron – such as, on the deficit: ‘Does that sound familiar? Well, it should, because he said it five years ago.’ The Labour leader urges himself to ‘stay calm, never agitated’ and ‘relish the chance to show who I am’. His scrawled notes, found in his dressing room after the ITV debate, give an insight into his mindset before he took to the rostrum with the six other party leaders. Mr Miliband reminds himself to talk to the camera, ‘use the people at home’ and get across his ‘decency, passion, leadership’. The Labour leader reveals his planned ripostes to two possible Tory attacks, accusing him of forgetting the deficit and of telling journalists he wanted to ‘weaponise’ the issue of the NHS. He accuses the Prime Minister of promising to eliminate the deficit and failing, and urges viewers to ‘use their vote as a weapon to fight for the NHS by kicking David Cameron out of Downing Street’. But some of the planned one-liners against his Conservative rival were not used, including: ‘I can take five more weeks of attacks of me, but the British people can’t take five more years of you.’ Tory MP Charlie Elphicke said such ‘marketing speak’ was ‘cringe-worthy’, adding: ‘Ed Miliband is looking increasingly bizarre. 'First he forgets the deficit, then he forgets his notes in the dressing room. Marketing speak like “happy warriors” is very much the tactic of motivational gurus … I think most people will think it’s cringe-worthy.’ Scroll down for video . His notes, found in his dressing room after the ITV debate, give an insight into his mindset before the clash . In his self-motivational notes, Labour leader Mr Miliband (pictured above during the debate as Natalie Bennet speaks)  wrote the words ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ connected by an arrow as well as the term 'Happy Warrior' The publication of the notes in a newspaper yesterday was compared to BBC2 satire The Thick Of It, in which a party leader is mortified when her notes referring to ‘quiet bat-people’ are photographed. A poll by headhunters Korn Ferry yesterday found 70 per cent of FTSE 100 chairmen think Labour would herald an ‘economic catastrophe’. A FTSE 100 boss, who did not wish to be named, said Mr Miliband ‘appears to completely misunderstand business’. It comes after Mr Miliband drew ridicule for declaring ‘hell yeah!’ when asked by Jeremy Paxman in the first TV election clash if he was tough enough to be Prime Minister. ‘Happy warrior’ was coined by William Wordsworth to describe Admiral Lord Nelson. In a 1985 presidential address, Ronald Reagan called on Americans to be ‘happy warriors, out to seize back a country’. Mr Miliband staked the success of his campaign on having a head to head debate with David Cameron, and is understood to have been rehearsing for months. He hired US speech coach Michael Sheehan on a reported £10,000 daily fee to improve his delivery and charisma. So, what does all this psychobabble actually mean? What do all the weird soundbites on Miliband’s crib sheet mean? Here, the Mail analyses them – and reveals the pervasive influence of Red Ed’s American spin doctor. ‘Happy Warrior’ Coined by William Wordsworth, it’s the title of an 1806 poem to mark Lord Nelson’s death. Happy Warrior depicts its subject as a swashbuckling hero who suffers great setbacks and pain, yet proves impossible to defeat. This may make it an odd slogan for a modern election, yet in America, home to Labour’s strategist David Axelrod, the phrase has a long history. First used by Franklin Roosevelt in 1924, presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey plastered it across his campaign jet in 1968. It has since been used by politicians desperate to be seen as trustworthy, hard-working men-of-the-people. In 2012, Barack Obama described his running mate Joe Biden as ‘America’s happy warrior’, in a speech written by Axelrod. ‘Relish the chance to show who I am’ The sort of phrase a bull-necked US Navy Seal might shout while doing press-ups in a muddy puddle, this is old-fashioned motivational psychobabble. Undoubtedly another contribution from Axelrod, who is big on ego-boosting statements of intent. Indeed, he must have been behind Miliband’s decision to puff up his chest and tell Jeremy Paxman last month: ‘Am I tough enough? Hell yes, I’m tough enough!’ As to what sort of a guy Miliband intends to ‘relish’ showing us he is, his notes contain three words: ‘decency, passion, leadership’. Labour Party leader Ed Miliband leaves MediaCityUK in Salford following the televised leaders' election debate . ‘Calm, never agitated’ Axelrod famously labelled Obama ‘no drama Obama’, kitting out staff in T-shirts with the logo ‘Stop the drama, vote Obama’. The reason: although election campaigning can be confrontational, voters prefer candidates who remain above the fray and, well, prime ministerial. Miliband is thus at pains not to lose his cool. ‘Use the people at home’ Ever since 1960, when John F Kennedy faced Richard Nixon in America’s first presidential TV debate, this has been a golden rule. JFK captured hearts and minds by appearing to talk directly to voters. The pale, sweaty Nixon failed to look at the camera and thereby seemed shifty. His campaign never recovered. Miliband has been practising such drills for weeks – with some rehearsals said to have taken place with Tony Blair’s ex-spin doctor Alastair Campbell playing the anchorman. ‘Negative into positive’ This may seem to be yet more transatlantic psychobabble but it is a key tool to try to turn perceived weaknesses to your advantage. Miliband has made self-deprecating jokes – such as one about how he struggled to eat a bacon sandwich – to turn a negative into a positive. Similarly, he has attempted to transform his status as underdog by saying: ‘People have underestimated me at every turn.’ After four opinion polls were released, the average poll of polls put Cameron narrowly ahead on 22 per cent, with 21.5 per cent saying Miliband won, 21 per cent backing Farage and 20 per cent favouring Miss Sturgeon . ‘Me Vs DC: Decency, Principle, Values’ Crucial buzzwords. Interestingly, the word ‘decency’ cropped up in Sherlock actor Martin Freeman’s filmed endorsement of Labour. Also, campaign guru Axelrod’s autobiography is peppered with references to ‘decency and small-town values’. While working for Obama, he told him to say he was ‘led not by polls but by principle’. The note suggests Labour believe ‘decency’, ‘principle’ and ‘values’ are alien concepts to David Cameron. Typed answers . Despite wishing to sound spontaneous, several pre-scripted comments were surreptitiously read out from typed notes. As for his closing statement, ‘let’s bring the change Britain needs’, it seems a rip-off of the slogan used by Barack Obama who, in 2008, talked endlessly about ‘change we can believe in’.
Labour leader Ed Miliband had motivational notes for televised debate .
Secret cribsheet revealed his set of reminders including 'me versus DC'
Also included words: 'Happy warrior', 'Calm, never agitated' and 'Decency'
Labour defended notes calling them evidence of Miliband's 'positive vision'