This Saturday, unapologetic Ed is off to tell the Labour movement about his “One Nation” vision

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Ed Miliband will be at the TUC demonstration on Saturday. That much isn’t really a surprise – Miliband took part in last year’s march and demonstration last March, and was lambasted for his troubles. The impact of his appearance was negligible in polling terms, despite what the naysayers said both beforehand and afterwards. Similarly Miliband was warned against speaking at the Durham Miners’ Gala – an appearance which was considered something of a success, and a boon to a region that provides plenty of MPs for the party, but often feels ignored. Both events brought Ed Miliband good will from the union movement, despite Miliband conceding little of note in either speech. We can probably expect something similar from this Saturday.

Except…it’s more important than that.

Miliband is breaking with conventional wisdom just by attending this Saturday’s event. And that’s almost the point on its own. A Labour source close to Miliband was keen to stress to me this afternoon that the Labour leader is “unapologetic” about his decision to join the demonstration, and will be using it to flesh out what his One Nation narrative is about. Miliband “wants to be seen to be there” and considers his speech this weekend to be very much part of his “One Nation Tour” (which as I wrote last week is about saving politics – no small task).

Miliband believes that Saturday’s march is the right place to take the One Nation message, but will be seeking to speak to the private sector as well as the public sector and businesspeople as well as families. Perhaps that means we should expect a speech for the cameras as well as for the crowd – but that can of course backfire. Last year his TUC demonstration speech appeared split-screen alongside scenes of violence in Central London.

So there is an element of risk in what Miliband is doing. His message could well end up getting lost in a day that is, of course, not about him. But having earned the right to be heard, and having seized upon that in Manchester, Miliband will now be trying to take his hopeful “One Nation” message into Central London. As I was told this afternoon, Miliband’s aim for this weekend will be to show that One Nation is about:

“A nation where you have to give hope to a generation of young people …a country where we defend our great institutions (like the NHS) which embody the values of the British people.”

I’m not sure who could disagree with that. but perhaps that is its greatest strength. No doubt Miliband will come under fire for attending on Saturday – but he doesn’t plan on backing down on attending major events like this, or winding down the One Nation rhetoric – any time soon. LabourList will of course be on the ground and in the crowd on Saturday too. We’ll let you know how it goes…

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