Milliband criticises Mersey fire chief’s “bone idle” attack
DAVID MILIBAND slapped down Mersey fire chief Tony McGuirk for his attack on "bone idle" public sector workers – as he denied his campaign to lead Labour was in trouble.
In an interview with the Daily Post, the long-time favourite fiercely criticised Mr McGuirk for comments that triggered a storm of controversy and calls for his resignation.
The Shadow Foreign Secretary said: "I don't recognise any description of bone idle firefighters, or bone idle public servants. Frankly, I don't think that's the kind of language that does justice to the work that's done.
"I think it will stick in the gullet of a lot of hard-working home helps, hard-working police officers and hard-working firefighters, because public sector work is a service. What was he thinking of?"
Mr McGuirk has apologised for using "inappropriate language", while standing by his call for other organisations to follow Merseyside Fire Authority's lead in successfully cutting staff numbers.
During the interview, Mr Miliband warned that a "crackers" health shake-up – which could cull around 4,500 NHS staff across the Merseyside area – would be the next big blow to strike.
