Labour HQ structures to be planned around seven taskforces in “election war room”

There’s a much trailed Labour Party “all staff conference” tomorrow, and the party are already briefing what Ed Miliband will be telling party staffers when they arrive at the Central London venue. The event is planned to be about how the party adapts and evolves structurally and organisationally in the run up to the 2015 election – but perhaps wary of recent rumours that General Secretary Iain McNicol is being pushed aside, he’s scheduled to open the event. Yet the main presentation will be delivered by Douglas Alexander and Spencer Livermore “on election strategy and structures will explain how the party will now be organised around a structure of seven taskforces in an election war room”. The party promises that this “will include a strengthened Attack and Rebuttal Unit and a Digital Taskforce” – which suggests a shift towards an election footing and Livermore and Alexander asserting themselves over the organisational structure of the party.

Particular focus is also being given to Labour already having over 100 organisers in key seats ahead of the election – more than at any point during the 1997 campaign.

Ed Miliband will also address party staff and take part in a Q&A – here’s what he’s expected to say.

“I don’t just want to win this election for Labour, I want to win it for Britain. And I know we all share that spirit. It will shape the way we campaign. And inspire us as we seek to become the first-one term opposition in a generation.

“You know that our cause is right and that we’re fighting for all the people of our country now facing the worst cost-of-living crisis in their lifetimes: the hopes of millions are resting on our shoulders.

“Two months ago, David Cameron and George Osborne were warning that a Labour Party that wanted to fix broken markets and build an economy which works for working people was flirting with communism and being inspired by Das Kapital.

“This week, George Osborne has finally followed our lead on pay day lending and declared, with a straight face, that he now believes markets must be made to work for people, even while he and David Cameron still refuse to take on the big six energy companies.

“So be in no doubt: we are winning the battle of ideas, the Tories have no answers. They will always stand up for the privileged few.

“But those with power never concede it easily. We will be up against the Conservative Party of Lynton Crosby: a party that will fight an election based on division, smear and fear. They will pit public sector against private sector, north against south, those in work and those out of work. We must take our chance to say loud and clear: not here – and not this time.

“That’s why it matters that we always speak and listen to the British people directly, one to one, face to face, using all the skills of organisers rooted in communities all across Britain. Persuading the people of Britain that we can overcome the obstacles they face. That politics can make a difference once again.

“It is with the help of those organisers and thousands of volunteers, that we will conducting politics in a new way: listening to people’s concerns, responding to them, campaigning with our heads and our hearts, using new digital platforms and remembering that the strength of our party always comes from the soul of its movement. That’s how we’ve built change in communities throughout our history. And that’s how we’re going to win this general election.

“But in the end this election campaign isn’t about changing parties. It is about changing Britain. Over the next 17 months, we will give Britain the chance to choose hope over fear, to work together, not divide, to succeed as One Nation not two.”