Joe Fortune first speech as General Secretary – read in full

Thank you very much conference, thank you chair. What a great speech from Hollie, that was fantastic. It meant so much to everyone in the room and it was an amazing piece, so thank you very much for that.

Friends I can tell it’s a red-letter day, my children have turned up to work with me, they’re waving in the front. And I’ve also been given up to 10 minutes rather than my usual 3 and a half, so clearly an important moment.

I want to thank our Party’s National Executive Committee for giving me the opportunity to seek your support to be your next General Secretary. We’ve just heard from Hollie, and I want to share in that amazing warmth and thanks that conference has given her for many years of hard work.

Friends, even I was young when we first met, when she was an organiser in Plymouth many moons ago. What an incredible shift Hollie has put in for our Party in the many roles she has taken on over the last 15 years. It has been rightly said before – our historic win in 2024 would not have happened without her. So thank you Hollie.

Following in the footsteps of all the General Secretaries that have served our Party before me, it is the honour of my life to stand in front of you here and ask for your support. I have been a member of the Party for just shy of 30 years. I inherited Labour values from my family. They understood the need for political voice in communities like ours. It’s a Labour history which goes back generations. And I carry that history with me – conference, this was a rosette that my nan stitched together for my dad nearly 50 years ago. Now I carry it with me through conferences, I carry it with me through campaigns, so you’ll forgive me if it’s a bit tatty in the back. But I carry it with me for a reason. It was the Labour movement who gave my family educational opportunity through polytechnics. It was the trade union movement who supported my dad through it.

That need for Labour politics burns as bright today in me as it did on the day I joined. I remember nervously attending my first branch meeting, about 20 minutes on the bus from here in Church Ward and being taken to my first CLP meeting by Unison’s Frank Hont. Conference, it won’t surprise you perhaps to hear I left both meetings as the designated youth officer. Since then, like so many of us over the years I’ve taken on different positions in the Party. Election agent for Gwyneth Dunwoody – whose dad was the brilliant General Secretary of the Party through the 1945 government. Shop steward, and proud to be a card-carrying trade union member of many decades. Branch chair, borough organiser, NPF member, shadow cabinet adviser, conference delegate, even a paper candidate once.

But I have also spent 17 years working in the UK co-operative movement, and for the last seven, I have been immensely proud to serve as the General Secretary of our sister party, the Co-operative Party. Co-op politics has taught me the importance of collective action and collective responsibility. I’ve learned that change won’t just land in our lap, we have to work together to build it. I saw firsthand the dedication of staff who will run through walls for the politics they believe in, whose work is deserving of compassion, care and respect. I’ve learned that those who choose to be members of a political party are not just signing up to an organisation but something bigger than themselves.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the Co-operative Party for all it has done for me. And thank the staff team for their commitment over many years. Together we have built a Co-op Party which has stronger membership, elected representation and finances than ever before. I now want to bring those lessons to this vital role at this vital time.

Conference, you know better than anyone the challenges ahead of us are great. In May, we faced tough elections and watched too many friends across the country miss out on representing the communities they love. But friends, there are important elections to come as well. Our performance in these elections will send a message about our party, the strength of our Party, and its ability to win in every part of the country at every level.

And Conference let me be very clear about this, like Hollie. I believe the political threats we now face are profound. A politics that tells people that they are powerless, that their neighbour is their enemy and that no one can be trusted to change things. Conference, it is dangerous and damaging. And our answer must be to be louder and stronger and bolder.

Friends, it’s a politics of despair with Reform, or a politics of hope with Labour. That’s the choice. And that is the argument we must now take to the country.

The Party we will build together will reflect not only the scale of that challenge, but the scale of opportunity. The opportunity to bring prosperity to every postcode. To empower communities to take the decisions that shape their lives. To reset the relationship between politics and people.

To do that, the Prime Minister has rightly said that we must be one Labour Party. We will work together as one Labour Party and we will win together as one Labour Party Conference. Because at its best, Labour is a growing, strong and united Party. And so, I’ll work every day with our dedicated and talented Labour staff team, and work across our movement to ensure our Party is the strongest it can possibly be.

A strong Party has stable and growing finances which allow us to build the teams we need for the elections to come. We can only do that with the ongoing support of our Party affiliates, members, trade unions and donors – and I know that Conference will share in my thanks to them.

A strong Party is inclusive and diverse, reflective of the communities that we look to serve. Not just talking about equality but ensuring we live our values in everything we do. This isn’t something our Party has always got right, and I will ensure we protect the progress we have made to remove the poison of antisemitism, and build a culture where every member feels respected, valued and included.

A strong Party values its membership, appreciates that even the best campaigns cannot succeed without the activists to execute them. We will actively seek to build our membership, improving our understanding of why people join Labour and why they stay. We will embed the importance of members across all aspects of Party life. A strong Party is one which invests in its people, and so I commit to strengthening our leadership programmes and ensure that our training offer to activists reflects the evolving needs of our modern campaigning.

And finally, a strong Party is one in the best possible position to win elections. Labour in power can be the most powerful force for change our country has ever seen. But we can only do that when we win. I want to keep our Party at the forefront of campaign creativity and innovation and learn the lessons of important by-elections we have fought across the country. I know Conference we will all want to send our best wishes to Sagal in Camden, and I very much hope to see many of you out on the doors in the campaign to come.

Conference, if accepted as your General Secretary today you can expect hard work, passion and commitment. Someone who will always respect the Party and, as its guardian, build on our current strength to leave it in a stronger place than I find it. I know conference that in you I will have my strongest support but rightfully most critical friend. I say that looking at my mum and dad, with 100 years of combined Labour Party membership as well.

Friends I know the country I want my children to live in, and it is one with a Labour Government. We have won before and we will win again.

Thank you very much conference.

READ MORE: Labour Party Conference 2026: Full LabourList events programme, revealed

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