David Owen is so impressed by Ed Miliband’s party reforms that he’s donated more than £7,500 to Labour (the exact figure has not been announced but £7,500 is the legal threshold for declaration). As party treasurers estimate the cost of Miliband’s reforms, it’s money that will be gratefully received. Labour figures have long hoped that the former SDP leader, who has previously spoken of his admiration for Miliband (and is close to him and his strategist Stewart Wood), could be persuaded to rejoin the party. He hasn’t (yet) – he will now sit as an “independent social democrat” rather than a crossbench peer in the House of Lords – but his decision to donate is still a significant endorsement of Miliband.
Owen’s stated reason for giving money is to help Labour “rescue our NHS”. He was one of the fiercest opponents of the coalition’s health reforms (as a former GP) and warned in the New Statesman in 2011 that “[if] the Liberal Democrats cannot call a halt to or, at the very least, slow down, these ill-conceived health reforms they will no longer be able to claim to be the heirs of Beveridge” (they did not). He said last night:
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