As Miliband wheels out his wife on the hustings... Can cool Justine make him look less of a dweeb?

His personal poll ratings plunging like an auk, Ed Miliband reached for the emergency card: play the wife! The Labour leader hit the local election campaign trail this week with his missus Justine in tow. Jolly tidy she looked, too.

You will remember that Gordon Brown resorted to the same thing. His wife Sarah used to follow him round like a psychiatric nurse and even acted as his warm-up act at Labour conferences. Look how well that worked.

Samantha Cameron has been known to add her swan-necked presence to the occasional political photo-call. But she normally keeps her trap shut. Mrs Miliband was used in a far more actively political way.

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Playing the wife card: Ed Miliband takes Justine on a campaign visit to her old school

On camera: The political pair share a joke as they visit Justine's old school, West Bridgford School in Nottingham

This was frontline campaign stuff, with much flesh-pressing and grinning-and-gripping in front of the very media her husband likes to attack. The 42-year-old mother of two was hauled around Nottingham almost as though she, not her hapless hubby, was the one standing for election.

The event was a trip to her old school in Nottingham and she was paraded in front of  ITV News’s cameras. The whole thing was about Justine, though that did not stop Labour spin doctors telling the media to go easy  on her because she was ‘not a political figure’.

Mrs Miliband made a rare appearance on the campaign trail, Labour admitted that the outing broke new ground for its leading lady and that we will be seeing more of her as a campaign player

The whole thing was about Justine. It was she who took the questions with an easy smile and the grace of a seasoned pro'

This was frontline campaign stuff, with much flesh-pressing and grinning-and-gripping in front of the very media her husband likes to attack

The couple, who have two children, tied the knot in May 2011, eight months after he became Labour leader

Children and staff lined up on both sides to shake hands with this glamorous visitor and that rather strange man beside her. Labour admitted that the outing broke new ground for its leading lady and that we will be seeing more of her as a campaign player. Think Cherie Blair with turbo boosters (but better ankles).

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