Ed Miliband’s speech – the verdicts

“Last night when I reported that Miliband would be doing his speech with no notes (which was, I think, a story we broke), I thought it was an unnecessary risk. But what an impressive feat it was. Ed managed to remain in full flow for over an hour, fluent, comfortable relaxed – the Ed Miliband people see in private but which has always struggled to translate into public. Behind a lectern he’s stiff and forced, but this “free range” speech suited his style far better – and was close to what I imagined last year when i said he should do an extended Q&A instead. But he pulled it off, so it was a good idea, and stylistically it undoubtedly worked. However, although there’s now more of a credible policy offer – and the vocational training, breaking up the banks, more houses to be built that we’ve had at this conference shouldn’t be underestimated – but I’m still not sure that I have a big ticket policy for the doorstep. But what we do have now is a narrative about what the Labour Party is for. A unifying force in British politics. He didn’t focus too much on telling his life story, he focussed instead on One Labour, One Britain, united with the Olympic spirit and the hundreds of years of progress behind us and ahead of us. And by stealing Disraeli, he put some tanks on Cameron’s lawn – reclaiming, in a way, the pre-Thatcherite post-war consensus. He also will have given the PM pause for thought – and perhaps last minute revisions – before his speech next week. Cameron will need to impress or he may suffer from the comparison.” – Mark Ferguson, Editor of LabourList

“Clearly a hugely impressively delivered speech, reminiscent of his appearance at the 2008 Labour Conference. His campaign promised he’d “speak human”, something he has struggled to pull off as leader – but here it was. It was easy to imagine him as PM. ‘One Nation’ is a concept that can mean different things to different people – if it means taking on Britain’s grotesque inequalities, then good. He unequivocally promised to repeal the NHS Bill to deafening applause – we will play that clip on loop until the next Labour government does it. He highlighted unemployed people desperately looking for work that doesn’t exist, taking on the scrounger myth. He rightly argued that austerity was self-defeating because it sent borrowing hurtling. But when he talked about the impact of immigration, he failed to address the fact that wages have been declining above all because of weak trade unions, a non-living wage, and free market globalization. When he committed to make people work longer, to the Tories’ public sector pay cut, and not to reverse Tory cuts, the Conference hall rightly did not applause. There was still no coherent alternative to Tory austerity. We cannot leave that to the leadership – as a movement, it is for all of us to build.” – Owen Jones is a writer and columnist

“”Not quite Disraeli”… but probably the closest we get these days! An extraordinary tour d’horizon of Ed’s story, politics as faith, One Nation Britain – delivered in a tour d’force performance replete with humour, passion and his trademark cleverness. And it was a speech of a Leader ambitious not for a narrow technical victory or another coalition but of a great mandate from the whole country. This was the Ed familiar to so many of those who voted for him two years ago: big vision and smart policy matched by  a willingness to break a ton of rules about what ‘you aren’t allowed to do in politics’. Ed preached a big politics full of hope and fire. It was worthy of the moment our nation faces. And it will prove to media elites and voters alike that he is worthy of Number 10.” – Marcus Roberts is the Deputy General Secretary of the Fabian Society

“Passionate, articulate and free-flowing, that was the Ed I always knew was there. He even had some half decent jokes. This wasn’t the speech that told the country exactly what Labour would do, but it did articulate the spirit that Labour would govern in. If it was slightly too long, it was equally unclear what could have been cut. Key Labour themes of education, employment and the NHS made it feel like a revival meeting at times – but for once,  the necessary charismatic leader was there and preaching to his full abilities. Clearly the key message is that Labour are stealing the “one nation” mantle from the Tories for good and all. Excellent – frankly, it has always suited us better.” – Emma Burnell writes the Scarlet Standard blog

“”I thought it was one of the most important and impressive speeches I have seen in 20 years of attending annual conference. The delivery was engaging and brilliant given he didn’t use notes. The personal detail will help the public understand who Ed is and what motivates him. He very firmly removed the left’s tanks from his lawn by rejecting a return to Old Labour, emphasising that the south and squeezed middle are key components in a Labour victory, and making clear we are a One Nation party not one of sectional interests. The One Nation theme gives us an understandable 2 word appeal that attacks the Coalition’s record, sets out our vision and exposes how far Cameron has moved from the centre ground. And the policy content was radical and realistic, just the right amount of detail for this stage in the electoral cycle.” – Luke Akehurst is a councillor in Hackney and a member of Labour’s NEC

“Ed’s found his groove, and it turns out to have one nation under it. I loved it. That’s how to make a speech, Edstyle – chatty, conversational, personal, unashamedly geeky. My initial concerns that all we were going to hear was family stories and the overarching One Nation theme were dispelled as Ed built it up into policy areas: a focus on vocational education; a spot-on response to fears about immigration; and that assurance we needed about the NHS Act. There was no policy shopping list, but that’s for next year – this was the speech we needed right now.” – Grace Fletcher-Hackwood is a Labour councillor in Manchester

‘Well, what on earth was that?’ That’s how I started my review of Ed Miliband’s speech last year. This year, it’s ‘wow, how good was that?’ This is a leader transformed. And he’s looking the nation in eye – one nation – and saying ‘I am ready to lead.’ The one nation theme stepped daintily into the space vacated by David Cameron’s decision to pursue a politics of division rather than unity. He laid out a clear ‘faith’. He also spoke clearly to many constituencies of concern – including those who tentatively voted for Cameron – that he has sometimes left confused.  He reached into an honourable conservative tradition in order to reject Conservatism 2.012. At times there was John F Kennedy- ask not what your country. And the Obama of 2004 – not red and blue states but a United States – was there too. One nation is better than any of the previous ways Miliband has chosen to express his vision. And for all the rejection of New Labour there was something of the early Blair in this performance too. There were tough messages for both the public and private sectors. Vested interests were confronted. One nation labourism was definitive Blair in Opposition. Finally, from a personal standpoint, I have been waiting to hear a frontline politician express support for the ‘forgotten 50%’. Focus on high quality technical and vocational education is of national importance. It was time someone said it. Ed Miliband did. Criticisms of Miliband have focused on the language, the authority, and the lack of detail. He went quite a way to answering those concerns. Labour’s weaknesses do remain but this speech will have reminded people of its strengths.  Most importantly, this speech was addressed to the right audience. There were some goodies for those in the hall. But mostly, he projected this out of the conference hall. It will be interesting to see how this nation responds to this one nation call.” – Anthony Painter is a writer and critic

Views from elsewhere:

Unite’s Len McCluskey called it “a tour de force. It is the best speech from a Labour leader I have heard and it will offer genuine hope to voters.”

The Daily Mail’s Tim Shipman said Miliband has stolen Cameron’s clothes, saying “Ed Miliband has just pulled off something that few politicians achieve. He has cheered his party faithful, rewritten the conventional wisdom about himself and, I suspect, sent a tiny frisson of fear rippling through Downing Street.”

Over at the Spectator Fraser Nelson called it “a resounding success”.

Dan Hodges suggests that Miliband was missing policies, and says “Ed Miliband’s speech wasn’t light on charisma. It was light on content.”

The GMB’s Paul Kenny said “Ed Miliband is a conviction politician and a decent, truthful and honest man which is a nice change”

Hopi Sen says “Ed Miliband wasn’t setting out to colour between the lines. Not yet. Instead, he was trying to sell himself as a leader with a vision.”