Tony Blair pummels Ed Miliband at Highgate charity auction

When it comes to the charity rostrum - former prime minster Tony Blair has proved he has more pulling power than aspiring successor Ed Miliband.

Leader of the opposition Mr Miliband’s donations to a charity auction to save a Christmas dinner for the elderly in Highgate have failed to excite the crowds - raising just �6.

But bidders at the Highgate Newtown Community Centre in Bertram Street were happy to pay more than �100 for a poster about the gunpowder plot signed by the former Labour prime minister.

Mr Miliband donated signed copies of parliamentary records, including the Hansard record of his first Question Time, to the charity auction on Sunday, November 6.

Auction organiser Ruth Corney said of the lot: “I think it was because the people who came weren’t interested in politics. It was sold to someone whose husband is a writer.”

A total of �2,000 was raised to pay for a festive lunch for the elderly at the centre later this year.