Guido is once again spouting self-serving bullshit and revealing his socially conservative side in the process:

What happened to the Ed Miliband who got hitched to Justine after pressure from those of us who pointed out that it was unusual and a little bit weird for a party leader not to be married to the mother of his children?

Now, I have no idea why Ed Miliband chose to get married this year; it could be because of Guido’s pressure (although I rather think Guido is once again over-estimating his own influence); it could be because Miliband Minor wanted to silence the snidey bullshit emerging about his private relationship with the mother of his children and life partner coming from prurient muck-rakers like Gudio. It could also be because he loves Justine and wanted to make that relationship formal. I don’t know why he chose to do what he did; nor does Guido, I rather suspect.

And while it true that party leaders are traditionally married to the mother (or father, in the case of Thatcher) of their children, it is not a “little bit weird” if they are not. There are countless couples across the country who are not married despite having children. I know two couples myself who are about to have children but who are not married. We live in a time when marriage is no longer considered an essential stepping stone before a couple can have children. Thankfully, we live in a more modern age. People might not get married before having kids because they just don’t get round to it (and trust me, organising a wedding takes a lot of time), it might be because they don’t see any value in marriage or believe that their love for each other needs to be rubber stamped by the church or the state. Such views are not “weird”; they are perfectly valid alternative views for those who are not obsessed by the social norms of the past and are happy to live in a way that is slightly different from the socially conservative expectations of the likes of Guido Fawkes.