Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Ed Miliband has criticised his brother's "big money backing" in an appeal to supporters to give his campaign one final push.

"We are now within touching distance of winning this election," Ed Miliband claims, just two weeks before party members start receiving their ballot papers. "But we are still up against opponents with big money backing ...".

It's funny how he uses the word "opponents".

That's primarily his older brother David, of course, who is known to have received more than Β£324,000 in declared donations, much of it from the old Blair-ite types who used to fund New Labour.

Ed Balls, however, has received Β£131,000, including one gift of Β£100,000 from the novelist Ken Follett.

Ed Miliband, in contrast, has had barely Β£61,000 so far - less than a fifth of the total of his brother.

Ed Miliband claims to have 4,000 volunteers helping his campaign and to have received financial support from 700 people. His email appeal to every supporter to give him an extra Β£30 each states the hope that he can recruit another 7,000 donors.

And, in another clear dig at his brother, Ed Miliband writes:

"Clearly, for Labour to win again, we cannot simply settle for one more heave with the old dogmas and expect our lost voters to return to Labour as if the mistakes that drove them away in the first place had never been made. We cannot win those voters back with the same old New Labour tunes. We need to put values back at the heart of our party."