This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Ed Miliband has developed an unlikely fanbase of smitten teenage girls, after a 17-year-old student declared her admiration for the Labour leader on Twitter and prompted a flood of replies from other young women.

Teenage founder of #milifandom says her parents really hate Ed Miliband Read more

A student, known only as Abby, caused a Twitter storm after declaring herself leader of the #milifandom – a group of enthusiastic Ed Miliband admirers. Fandoms are usually reserved for the likes of Justin Bieber and One Direction, but the #milifandom hashtag has been trending, with scores of young females sharing their affection for the leader.

Abby says the Milifandom, which started last week, is “a movement against the distorted media portrayal of Ed”.



Since then, she has reached 12,000 followers on Twitter, with tweeters using the hashtag to express their support. One tweeter described having an “unexplainable emotional connection” to the Labour leader, while others posted pictures of the politician with a crown of flowers.

caity (@russellhowhard) 💜🌼ed miliband flower crown edits🌼💜 pic.twitter.com/leGcMXjURg

Caity later tweeted to say she was supposed to be revising.

chloe (@dotheLokiKoki) if I ever met ed miliband I could die happy tbh, he's cool

shae. (@annamariiax) The real question is, who isn't a part of the #milifandom? #BaeMiliband pic.twitter.com/Euu1XRxkvt

rosie (@rosalind_dunn) Thinking about ed miliband pic.twitter.com/u0dcjb2qt8

Many of Miliband fans have been moved to replace their profile pictures with images of him.

emily (@jjongkitty) me: has a strong unexplainable emotional connection to a 45 year old politician

ellie✨ (@elliegalaxies) feel like i should replace harry styles in the thumbnail of my new video with ed miliband tbh https://t.co/kCm0yghELx

The Labour party responded to the flood of complimentary comments, saying: “We didn’t see this coming …if you’re fired up about Ed, changing Britain, and making your voice heard, we’d love you to be on the team → labour.org.uk/volunteer.”

Abby later told fellow Miliband supporters that the focus should be on Labour’s policies and what they would do for the country. She said: “#Milifandom is not a joke. It’s young people angry at the distorted presentation of Ed, trying to correct that + make themselves heard.”

She added that the movement would remind politicians that they could not ignore young people.



abby (@twcuddleston) David Cameron: *ignores young people* Young people: *start #milifandom campaign so ed will win* David Cameron: *regretting it*





