Ed Miliband calls on US-style leadership guru who coaches people to overcome anxiety and find their inner voice

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Ed Miliband is trying to build his 'leadership skills' using psychology
He has hired a leadership coaching firm to help him feel less anxious
The firm ExtendedMind also tries to make its clients seem 'more authentic'
Miliband had a note to remind him to be a 'happy warrior' during a debate

By John Stevens for the Daily Mail

Published: 19:34 EST, 24 April 2015 | Updated: 03:19 EST, 25 April 2015

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He has long struggled to convince voters that he is a suitable choice for prime minister.

Now Ed Miliband has hired a leadership coaching firm that helps people overcome anxiety and find their ‘inner voice’.

The consultants drafted in by the Labour leader claim to work with politicians to build ‘leadership skills’ using ‘neuroscience’ and ‘business psychology’.

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Ed Miliband, pictured, has hired a US guru who can help him convince himself that he can be Prime Minister

Mr Miliband, pictured, has constantly lagged behind Prime Minister David Cameron in the personal rating polls

Services offered by ExtendedMind include coaching on how to look ‘authentic’ and tutorials on how to build alliances – which may come in useful during negotiations with SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon.

The firm, which uses some American spellings despite being based in Britain, details how it can help politicians on its website.

It says: ‘When we’re working with leaders who want to communicate their messages with greater impact, it’s typically the “how” of their style that we support, improving body language, breathing, posture and prosody.’ In a section entitled ‘The Politics of Authenticity’, it adds: ‘Is learning new communication techniques just a question of artifice rather than authenticity?

‘Our answer to that question would be “yes”, if you don’t throw yourself into the learning process and practice! Any new behaviour will feel inauthentic at the beginning, and will seem so to others, too. But with repeated practice we move from “acting” to “being”.’

THE LECTERN HE NEVER LEAVES

When Ed Miliband tried to make a conference speech off the cuff in September, he forgot to mention the deficit and was roundly ridiculed.

So ever since then he has made sure he always has one trusty aide at his side ... a lectern, right.

Whether he is in a town hall, a car park or a factory during the election campaign, the prop – often holding helpful notes to jog his memory – has been there for him to lean on.

His advisors believe the lectern makes him look more like a prime minister-in-waiting. But its non-stop UK tour has begun to look increasingly bizarre after he even dragged it into the car park of a Leicestershire factory, where it was carefully positioned between puddles.

This week he spoke from a lectern as he launched Labour campaign billboards in Nuneaton, Warwickshire ... even though he was in the middle of a cricket pitch.

The website continues: ‘The anxiety we all feel to different degrees when communicating an important message to others – and which can side-swipe our message – can be erased so that our inner voice can find its way into the world.’

And in a sign that the firm could help Mr Miliband prepare to negotiate post-election deals, it notes: ‘Our intelligent networks process encourages people to think about what they want to achieve [and] identify the people who might collaborate with them to achieve those goals.’

Mr Miliband has consistently lagged behind David Cameron in polls on their personal ratings during his five years as Labour leader. But he has seen a slight boost in his popularity since the campaign began last month.

After the seven-way televised leaders’ debate on ITV, it emerged that Mr Miliband had been reading from motivational notes – including one reminding him to be a ‘happy warrior’.

His cribsheet, found in his dressing room after the clash, also prompted him to ‘relish the chance to show who I am’.

Mr Miliband has hired ExtendedMind despite already employing David Axelrod, a former adviser to Barack Obama, on six figures. One Labour MP said Mr Axelrod had so far been ‘invisible’ in the campaign, adding: ‘I don’t understand what we are getting for the £300,000, I think it is an obscene amount.’

Mr Axelrod, who is based in the US, has insisted he is in touch with Mr Miliband ‘all the time’ by phone, text and email.

Asked yesterday whether his use of ExtendedMind had been ‘helpful’, Mr Miliband told a press conference: ‘I will let other people make a judgment on those questions. I take advice from a range of people.’

A Labour spokesman said: ‘We don’t comment on people we may or may not have employed.’ ExtendedMind did not respond to a request for comment.

Tory Michael Ellis said: ‘There’s nothing authentic about Ed Miliband ... even after all his extensive coaching, could you imagine him standing up to Putin on the world stage? He should ask for his money back.’

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