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Ed Miliband sets election battle lines in rigidly practical conference speech Ed Miliband sets election battle lines in rigidly practical conference speech
(about 5 hours later)
Ed Miliband’s final conference speech before the election was a high wire act. Nearly 80 minutes long, he was still memorising it over the last few days, and adding passages on the air strikes in Syria in the last few hours. Ed Miliband’s final conference speech before the election was a high wire act. At least 65 minutes long, he was still memorising it in the last few days, and added passages on the air strikes in Syria in the last few hours.
The Labour leader has a phenomenal memory, but at one point he started repeating himself, and he forgot a key passage on the deficit that had already been briefed out. A missing section is the occupational hazard of delivering a speech by heart rather than from behind a lectern, or without the safety net of an autocue. The Labour leader has a phenomenal memory, but at one point he started repeating himself, and he forgot a key passage on the deficit that had already been briefed out. A missing section is the occupational hazard of delivering a speech by heart rather than from behind a lectern, or without the safety net of an autocue.
At times it appeared the sheer feat of recollection took precedence over the need to consider delivery, and in his effort to strike a conversationally serious tone, Miliband risked losing a hall that has hardly woken up all week.At times it appeared the sheer feat of recollection took precedence over the need to consider delivery, and in his effort to strike a conversationally serious tone, Miliband risked losing a hall that has hardly woken up all week.
It was only when he reached the second half of the speech and the politically central passage on funding the NHS that the audience came alive. But Millband feels he has made the format of speaking without notes his trademark and stubbornly refuses to retreat from it. It was only when he reached the second half of the speech and the politically central passage on funding the NHS that the audience came alive. But Miliband feels he has made the format of speaking without notes his trademark and stubbornly refuses to retreat from it.
It is not a tribute to the delivery, or the relevance of his anecdotes, that the roll call of the people Miliband had met over the past year - Gareth, Beatrice, Helen, Elizabeth, Rosie and the late Colin - was mockingly trending on Twitter. It is not a tribute to the delivery, or the relevance of his anecdotes, that the roll call of the people Miliband had met over the past year – Gareth, Beatrice, Helen, Elizabeth, Rosie and the late Colin – was mockingly trending on Twitter.
“A route map for Gareth” is hardly the stuff of Cicero. A politician should not to allow himself to become a figure of fun, especially one that says he is embarking on a eight-month job interview to run the country. His aides, however, insist the passages that mattered came across with impact on television. “A route map for Gareth” is hardly the stuff of Cicero. A politician should not allow himself to become a figure of fun, especially one who says he is embarking on a eight-month job interview to run the country. His aides, however, insist the passages that mattered came across with impact on television.
The poverty of delivery across the 80 minutes should not detract from the challenges in the speech - the big ambition for the NHS or the attempt to present a Plan for Britain that can rival the Conservative’s long term economic one. It was also a rigidly practical speech, designed to set the electoral battle lines and answer a single question: “Is anyone going to build a better life for the working people of our country?” The poverty of delivery across the 80 minutes should not detract from the challenges in the speech – the big ambition for the NHS or the attempt to present a plan for Britain that can rival the Conservative’s long-term economic one. It was also a rigidly practical speech, designed to set the electoral battle lines and answer a single question: “Is anyone going to build a better life for the working people of our country?”
“That wasn’t just the referendum question. That is the general election question,” Miliband said.“That wasn’t just the referendum question. That is the general election question,” Miliband said.
Labour believes there is a set of voters that feel they have made sacrifices with the Tories these past five years, but have been given no Conservative vision of the future save further deficit reduction. The thinking is that it will be possible to burn through the cynicism and restore their faith with a practical, detailed set of proposals to show how Britain will improve. What they were offered were all classic Miliband promises - raising the minimum wage, creating more apprenticeships, helping first-time buyers and tackling injustices at work. Labour believes there is a set of voters who feel they have made sacrifices with the Tories these past five years, but have been given no Conservative vision of the future save further deficit reduction. The thinking is that it will be possible to burn through the cynicism and restore their faith with a practical, detailed set of proposals to show how Britain will improve. What they were offered were all classic Miliband promises: raising the minimum wage, creating more apprenticeships, helping first-time buyers and tackling injustices at work.
The key word and thread in the speech was “together”, a word used 51 times. Betraying the influence of his US consultant David Axelrod, he even deployed the Obama phrase “together we can” at one point. Otherwise, “together” was deployed to draw a distinction with harsh Conservative individualism in which a cold elite has left those struggling on their own with an abiding feeling of being left behind, the classic definition of the mindset of the potential working class UK Independence party (Ukip) supporter. The aim was to portray the Conservatives as happy with a country in which the deck is stacked and the game rigged in their favour. The key word and uniting thread in the speech was “together”, which was used 51 times. Betraying the influence of his US consultant David Axelrod, he even deployed the Obama phrase “together we can” at one point. Otherwise, “together” was deployed to draw a distinction with harsh Conservative individualism in which a cold elite has left those struggling on their own with an abiding feeling of being left behind, the classic definition of the mindset of the working-class potential UK Independence party supporter. The aim was to portray the Conservatives as happy with a country in which the deck is stacked and the game rigged in their favour.
In a passage that owes much to the thinking of Jon Cruddas, the party’s policy chief, Miliband said: “If the ethic of the 20th century was hierarchy order, planning, control, the talents of just a few, the ethic of the 21st century is co-operation with everybody playing their part”. It allowed Miliband to produce a cast list of classic Labour villains - Russian oligarchs, energy companies, tobacco giants, millionaires, bankers, payday lenders and Rupert Murdoch. In a passage that owes much to the thinking of Jon Cruddas, the party’s policy chief, Miliband said: “If the ethic of the 20th century was hierarchy, order, planning, control, the talents of just a few; the ethic of the 21st century is cooperation with everybody playing their part.” It allowed Miliband to produce a cast list of classic Labour villains: Russian oligarchs, energy companies, tobacco giants, millionaires, bankers, payday lenders and Rupert Murdoch, payday lenders and the privileged few.
Whatever the short term excitment about Gareth, the big takeaway from the speech was always designed to be the extra money for the NHS and the effort to put the health service front and centre of the election campaign. Some of the impact of the announcements, including nearly 40,000 extra NHS jobs by 2020, was diminished by leaks in the newspapers the night before. But the Evening Standard headline “I’ll hit the sinner to pay for angels” is pretty much precisely the message Labour high command would want voters to take from the speech. Whatever the short-term excitement about Gareth, the big takeaway from the speech was always designed to be the extra money for the NHS and the effort to put the health service front and centre of the election campaign. Some of the impact of the announcements, including nearly 40,000 extra NHS jobs by 2020, was diminished by leaks in the newspapers the night before. But the Evening Standard headline “I’ll hit the sinner to pay for angels” is pretty much precisely the message Labour high command would want voters to take from the speech.
Given the leaks, the £2.5bn cash injection for the NHS did not quite have the breathtaking surprise of last year’s announcement of a price freeze on energy companies. Questions were also raised about whether closing tax loopholes will be a reliable source of funds. Tax loopholes tend to the last refuge of the political scoundrel. Given the leaks, the £2.5bn cash injection for the NHS did not quite have the breathtaking surprise of last year’s announcement of a price freeze on energy companies. Questions were also raised about whether closing tax loopholes will be a reliable source of funds. Tax loopholes tend to be the last refuge of the political scoundrel.
The levy on the tobacco companies, by contrast, is a cute piece of politics, even if it will confirm to some in business that Miliband has not truly abandoned his anti-predatory capitalism riff. The levy on the tobacco companies, by contrast, is a cute piece of politics, even if it will confirm to some in business that Miliband has not truly abandoned his anti-predatory-capitalism riff.
Labour knows it will risk a political backlash in London with its plans for a mansion tax on houses worth more than £2m, but it does not believe the accusations that the tax will hit the property market will unnerve swing voters. But shadow ministers, notably the shadow heath secretary Andy Burnham, struggled in the immediate wake of the speech to explain how the mansion tax would work. Labour knows it will risk a backlash in London with plans for a mansion tax on houses worth more than £2m, but it does not believe that accusations that the tax will hit the property market will unnerve swing voters. But shadow ministers, notably the shadow health secretary, Andy Burnham, struggled in the immediate wake of the speech to explain how the mansion tax would work.
Labour aides, however, decided the political impact of a new integrated health and social care service would be dissipated unless backed by extra funds. It is a gamble predicated on the belief that voters really think the NHS under Cameron is now at risk from Thatcherite privatisation; something that Cameron said he said he would never do when he started out as leader. Labour aides, however, decided the political impact of a new integrated health and social care service would be dissipated unless backed by extra funds. It is a gamble predicated on the belief that voters really think the NHS under Cameron is now at risk from Thatcherite privatisation It is ironic since Cameron closed his first party conference in October 2006 memorably drawing on the treatment given to his lost son by the NHS and saying “Tony Blair explained his priorities in three words: education, education, education. I can do it in three letters: NHS.”
He will hope voters still believe him.