Ed Miliband bacon sandwich photograph

This article is part of a series about Ed Miliband
Political positions One Nation Labour Predistribution MP for Doncaster North Energy and Climate Change Secretary (2008–2010) Climate Change Act 2008 Community Energy Saving Programme Kingsnorth power station Copenhagen Summit 2010 government formation Labour leadership election National Care Service Leader of the Opposition and Labour Party (2010–2015) Leadership Shadow Cabinet Opposition frontbench election Graduate tax March for the Alternative AV referendum Project Volvo leak Phone hacking scandal Leveson Inquiry Falkirk candidate selection Bacon sandwich photograph Scottish independence referendum Better Together #Milifandom EdStone "Chaos with Ed Miliband" Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary (2024–present) Elections Local elections 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2014 European elections 2015 general election debates Miliband of Brothers Personal life
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A photograph of Ed Miliband, then the leader of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, eating a bacon sandwich became a source of sustained commentary and the subject of an internet meme in 2014 and 2015. Taken for the London Evening Standard while Miliband was campaigning in the 2014 local elections, the image became well-known following the popular perception of it as making Miliband appear awkward, error-prone, and incapable of performing simple tasks, and ultimately ruined his campaign.

The image became a popular internet meme, and prompted a cultural debate about the lengths to which politicians attempt to control their public image. Some regarded the focussing on the image, and its resulting Internet memes, as having been motivated by antisemitism (Miliband is a Jewish atheist).^[1] Miliband dismissed the debate as unimportant. Others described the media focus as unfair or as part of a wider negative personality-based media campaign. The photo was used in a mocking front page of The Sun, then the UK's most widely read newspaper, on the day before the 2015 general election. It is unclear what effect, if any, the photograph had on the eventual result.