Mark Pack

The Guardian is (or should be) one of the most friendly newspapers towards Labour leader Ed Miliband, which makes their choice of photograph on this morning’s story about Labour’s tuition fees policy all the more revealing.

Superficially the photograph is fine: it shows Ed Miliband, free of odd facial expression, at party conference. There’s a bottle of water at his side but no embarrassing backdrop.

However… look again at the way the photo has been cropped. We’ve been given a small man, slightly to the side, dominated by white space, struggling for attention and looking out of his depth.

Compare that with the photo of Ed Balls in the side bar just below – close in cropping gives him a forceful, dynamic look complete with jutting jaw.

One looks Prime Ministerial, one doesn’t.

Cross-posted from the MHP Communications blog.