Ed Miliband was accused of plunging the General Election campaign to a ‘ new low ’ last night by ‘ weaponising dead migrants ’ . The Labour leader and his party ’ s spin machine prompted the most bitter row of the campaign so far by suggesting that David Cameron bore personal responsibility for drownings of refugees in the Mediterranean . Senior Conservatives claimed Mr Miliband was effectively ‘ accusing the Prime Minister of murder ’ in a ‘ desperate and negative ’ attempt to score political points by exploiting a human tragedy . Ed Miliband , pictured , was accused of trying to make political capital from the Mediterranean tragedy . Ed Miliband claimed the Mediterranean crisis was 'in part a direct result ' of the PM 's Libya policy . The controversy began after Labour spin doctors issued a briefing note which said Mr Miliband would use a speech on foreign policy to say the ‘ tragic scenes ’ in the Mediterranean were ‘ in part a direct result ’ of Mr Cameron ’ s Libya policy . The Labour leader later insisted he was not saying Mr Cameron had ‘ blood on his hands ’ , but was making a ‘ very important point about post-conflict planning in Libya ’ after the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi . The Prime Minister said only that Mr Miliband ’ s remarks were ‘ ill- judged ’ . But a senior Tory source said : ‘ A few bad polls for Labour after a poor week of campaigning and Ed Miliband accuses the PM of murder . I think we can see who is getting desperate and running a negative and personal campaign. ’ Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg also condemned Labour ’ s intervention , pointing out that Mr Miliband had backed Western military involvement in Libya . He accused Labour of astonishing hypocrisy , given the catastrophic failure of post-war planning in its Iraq conflict . Mr Clegg told BBC Radio 5 live : ‘ I think it is quite distasteful , actually , to reduce this total human tragedy of hundreds of people dying out in the Mediterranean to a political point-scoring blame game , particularly , I have to say , from a party that of course brought us into an illegal invasion in Iraq where there was no planning at all for the aftermath. ’ Mr Clegg said there should be ‘ a little more adherence to the facts as to who is ending up on these boats , why they are and what we can do about it to stop this terrible human tragedy ’ . Former foreign secretary William Hague said Mr Miliband ’ s remarks represented ‘ a new low in shallow opportunism ’ , given that the Labour leader had said ‘ nothing ’ about foreign policy for five years . Former Tory minister Richard Benyon accused Mr Miliband of ‘ weaponising dead migrants ’ . He said a large percentage of those fleeing North Africa ‘ come from other countries than Libya so Miliband is wrong on every level ’ . And former defence secretary Liam Fox said : ‘ Having tried to weaponise the NHS , Miliband is trying to weaponise drowning migrants . It ’ s quite offensive and reflects extremely badly on both him and his party. ’ Mr Miliband , speaking at the Chatham House think-tank in London , was forced to deny that he had ‘ politicised ’ a tragedy . Former defence secretary Liam Fox said Miliband was trying to 'weaponise drowning migrants ' Asked if that was true , Mr Miliband replied : ‘ Nonsense . No . Look , what this is about is saying very clearly to the British people that there is a huge issue we face as a country which is learning the lessons of the 2003 Iraq War . ‘ The problem is that in relation to Libya we have repeated the mistake because we haven ’ t done the post-conflict planning . ‘ I think people should just read my words and I don ’ t think anybody in the foreign policy community or in the wider international community would disagree with what I ’ ve said about the failure of post-conflict planning. ’ Labour aides pointed out that Mr Miliband did raise the issue of post-war plans after supporting bombing raids in Libya in 2011 . But footage of him also emerged from the same year suggesting the new Libyan authorities should be left to get on with it . ‘ This is an important moment to recognise the National Transitional Council and their role in taking Libya forward , and we ’ ve got to be led by them . It ’ s very important that Libyans determine their future , ’ he said at the time . Labour ’ s shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker was forced to concede that Mr Cameron is not responsible for migrant deaths in the Mediterranean . ‘ Nobody would want to say that the Prime Minister , as a human being , would want to see the terrible things we have seen in the Med , ’ he said . In a bruising interview with the BBC ’ s Andrew Neil , Mr Coaker also struggled to explain when Mr Miliband had raised ‘ consistent concerns ’ about the issue of post-conflict planning . A senior Labour source said the party ‘ did not resile from anything ’ in its briefing note and accused critics of a ‘ silly , utterly spurious ’ response to a ‘ serious speech ’ . Labour accused the Tories of ‘ personal attacks ’ earlier in the campaign , when Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said Mr Miliband ‘ stabbed his brother in the back ’ in the party ’ s 2010 leadership contest .
Ed Miliband said the crisis was ' in part a direct consequence ' of the PM 's actions . he delivered a rare address on the issue of foreign policy in London . Senior journalists accused Miliband of exploiting a human tragedy . news Fox claimed the Labour leader was ' weaponise ##d migrants '