Labour's infamous 'EdStone' found in London warehouse... and was carved by Tory voter

 
Ridiculed: The stone was unveiled in Hastings a few days before the general election (Picture: PA)
Tom Marshall16 May 2015
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The infamous stone slab etched with Ed Miliband's election pledges has been discovered in a warehouse in south London.

The whereabouts of the 8ft 6in-high "Ed Stone" has remained a mystery since it attracted widespread ridicule after being unveiled by the ex-Labour leader during his disastrous election campaign.

But the slab - estimated to have cost £30,000 - was today revealed to be languishing inside a storage facility at the Westminster industrial estate in Woolwich, owned by stone conservation company Paye.

The Daily Mail reported that it was "surrounded by skips full of building debris" - a far cry from its planned home of 10 Downing Street.

Mr Miliband had hoped to install the monument - inscribed with his six key election pledges - in the garden of the prime minister's residence.

Paye’s chief executive Adrian Paye told the Daily Mail: "It’s a storage facility. We keep things there until people ask to have them moved."

Meanwhile, Jeff Vanhinsbergh, owner of the company Stone Circle which produced the carving, told the paper he "felt sorry" for Mr Miliband when the idea dramatically backfired - while admitting to being a supporter of the Conservatives.

He said: "I’m a true blue. It does seem that stone was the final nail in the coffin for Ed Miliband.

"I do feel a bit sorry for him as I’m sure it wasn’t his idea and he was just doing what his strategists told him. But whoever did come up with the idea, oh dear. It looked like he was trying to recreate the Ten Commandments."

The stone became a huge trending topic on social media as people mocked up and shared digitally-altered parodies, replacing the pledges with everything from a Lord of the Rings line to a shopping list.

London Mayor Boris Johnson was among the most scathing of critics, calling it "some weird commie slab" in a newspaper column.

At the time, Miliband insisted: "[I do not regret it] because I think trust is a huge issue in this election.

"The difference with our pledges is that they are not going to expire on May 8."

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