The Labour leader was photographed in the unflattering pose as he battled the butty in public as early as 6.30am.

Unfortunately it does feed into a feeling of a person who is not on top of his game. Labour did much better in the local elections and the European elections than one might first expect from the BBC news headlines. Miliband has not been a regular guest on the Nigel Farage Show in its various guises, whether it be BBC1 on a Thursday evening or Sunday morning.

But there is a feeling with Ed Miliband that ‘He’ll do’. There are fewer than 365 days until the general election to be held in the UK on May 7th 2015. As yet, we have no idea what Labour will do about the purchaser-provider split, or what it will do about the private finance initiative (PFI) compromising NHS hospital budgets up and down the land.

In as much people welcomed Tony Blair back into their hearts, it was less about the content of what he said, although the message of taking UKIP on curried favour with many, but more about the clarity and vision with which he articulated it. Ed Miliband, for the decency of the nation, could let us in on his secret vision for the UK, irrespective of his intentions to win the general election.

It should be obvious what he wishes to do about the national living wage – whether he wishes to legislate on it or not. It should be clear that he will commit to increase spending in parts of the agenda, such as the National Health Service, if the economy benefits from a financial recovery.

If Ed Miliband fails to make headway on this, it won’t be long before Labour is listening carefully to the views of Stella Creasy or Chuka Umunna as future Labour leader. Tbe ‘progressive left’ can’t wait to get going, Big Society fans and all. The Department for Work and Pensions job could sink Rachel Reeves, as indeed it sunk fellow ideologue James Purnell, if Reeves is seen to be a vernacular wonk who doesn’t ‘get it’ as far as disabled citizens are concerned.

Ed Balls is living on borrowed time. Fair or unfair, some people do associate him with being Gordon Brown’s “henchman”. While he is not quite the Quasimodo of Labour, his willingness to stick to a failed austerity agenda does not make him far off in the eyes of some.

Labour’s offering for many will have to be  more substantial than whether it is going to spend more money on the National Health Service. It will have to be a case of not spending more money overall, but spending more money on the right people. Whilst people may not resent money being spent on good managers spending money effectively in the NHS, people are less forgiving about money being used to service PFI debts and implement unsafe levels of staffing.

Whilst people might be less concerned about the details of the English dementia strategy or the success of standardised packaging for cigarettes, Labour’s vision on all areas of policy has to be water tight. A philosophy of ‘less is more’ may be enough to win (just) a general election, through harvesting of Liberal Democrat votes, but it is striking how Miliband has failed to be loved yet.

This is a similar predicament to how commentators in the Telegraph had identified how David Cameron was more tolerated than loved as a leader of the Conservative Party. But Ed Miliband’s offering is pictured in the eyes of many as “wonky”, “weird”, “synthetic”, “forced” or “wooden”, or “intellectual”, rather than being “inspiring” or “passionate” or “clear”.

All of this is not a ‘good look’ for Ed Miliband, but unless Miliband’s team begins to be seen to get it right on policy or delivery, it will be more than the bacon butty that is deeply embarrassing.