LONDON -- The leader of the UK Labour Party was widely compared to Moses over the weekend after he unveiled an 8-foot stone that had his party's policies carved into it. And despite the memes and mocking, he's standing by his tablet.
Ed Miliband revealed the limestone monument Sunday, which contained his party's pre-election pledges, and the next day he found himself having to defend the odd move.
"Our pledges are carved in stone," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "I think trust is a huge issue in this election -- the difference with our pledges is they are not going to expire on 8 May."
He said the stone was to remind people that he's "serious about changing the way this country works," adding that the election is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
London Mayor Boris Johnson skewered Miliband and the stone in his newspaper column Monday, comparing it to something that would happen in 1970s East Germany.
"What was he drinking? What was he smoking? What was he on when he came up with this one?" Johnson asked in The Daily Telegraph.
"Keep taking the tablets, Ed -- don't erect them in government offices."
Since the unveiling, Twitter has dubbed it #edstone.
Exodus 19:4 And the Lord did spaketh unto Beaker 'You shall inscribeth your half-baked nonsense onto stone.' #EdStone pic.twitter.com/G7BCuIlRKb— Nonjob (@nonjob1) May 3, 2015
WAIT A SECOND - is this what I think it is in 2001: A Space Odyssey? #EdStone pic.twitter.com/tg3OBZ2fhT— Mark Wallace (@wallaceme) May 3, 2015
Miliband denies overspending on election pledges stone. #EdStone pic.twitter.com/zpd98MSxNe— PETER COLES (@petercoles44) May 3, 2015
Miliband accused of hubris 'on a Biblical scale' after etching policies into stone like Moses http://t.co/0D9B6wBf1O pic.twitter.com/gyDKY8oFK9— Matt Chorley (@MattChorley) May 3, 2015
#EdStone and we all know this is the truth pic.twitter.com/7yddR9kt1k— Sharia Holborn (@SuperOldHolborn) May 3, 2015
@silThis is about as farcical as #EdStone . No Ed, I meant 18 inches. Inches. pic.twitter.com/fEqz9ikFIM— Andrew Spencer (@Rose0Window) May 4, 2015
It just gets better. @thetimes today. #EdStone pic.twitter.com/yQD7EXAk8l— Liam Walker (@_Liam_Walker_) May 4, 2015