Ed Miliband speech: Analysis
Neither lurching to the left nor sticking to the status quo, Ed Miliband’s decisive departure from the days of New Labour is nevertheless a political gamble.
This was a bold effort not because Miliband decided to lead his party in one direction or another, but because he was prepared to say things which would make every part of his party feel deeply uncomfortable.
The old guard faced dismissals, even condemnations – denunciations would be going too far – of their record in government.
Before lunch delegates loyally applauded shadow home secretary Alan Johnson saying: “You do not demonstrate your commitment to civil liberties by failing to protect the most important civil liberty of all; the right to be safe on our streets.” After lunch they heard their new leader say: “We must always remember that British liberties were hard fought and hard won over hundreds of years… too often we seemed casual about them.”
On Iraq, Miliband’s proved even more decisive, saying the decision to go to war was “wrong”. The party who had backed the war for so long now applauded their new leader telling them they had made a terrible mistake. David Miliband, who will find it easier to bow out of frontline politics on political grounds after this speech, did not applaud.
Yet this was a speech which tried to overwhelm such concerns. By identifying the ability to challenge the “conventional wisdom” as New Labour’s chief strength Ed Miliband was able to imbue his determination to break away from its paradigms with a sense of continuity. It’s acceptable to abandon the old ideas, he argued. It’s what Labour does when it’s at its best.
All of this must have been music to the ears of those hoping to see a break from the past. “We have to show we understand the problems people face today,” he told delegates. “This will require strong leadership. It won’t always be easy. You might not always like what I have to say. But you’ve elected me leader and lead I will.”
Yet even those whose support had proved critical to Ed Miliband’s victory were in for a nasty shock. His opposition to strikes in response to the cuts to be unveiled in next month’s comprehensive spending review was met with stony-faced glares from union leaders. “The public won’t support them,” Miliband said. “I won’t support them. And you shouldn’t support them either.”
On welfare, he said he would look to the government’s plans to cut spending sensibly and not automatically jump to attack the cuts. On the divisive issue of electoral reform, he pledged to support the ‘yes’ campaign. And on deficit reduction he was as equivocal as he could be.
“I won’t oppose every cut the coalition proposes… there will be some things the coalition does that we won’t like as a party but we will have to support,” he said. Before today’s speech the Manchester conference was dominated by a debate between those wanting to stick to Alistair Darling’s approach and the more courageous, bullish stance of Ed Balls. That seems less likely after Miliband’s remarks, which positioned him in a more pragmatic frame.
“I say this because the fiscal credibility we earned before 1997 was hard won and we must win it back by the time of the next general election,” he explained. Those on the left will not be pleased.
Where does this leave Labour’s new generation? Having attempted to wipe the slate clean, breaking free of the party’s record in government but retaining pragmatic attitudes to the key issues which will face Britain in the next five years, Miliband seems to be taking his party back to the “restless and radical” mood of 1997. This was a period when bold shifts in Labour’s politics had to be accepted as the price of remaining credible. In today’s austere climate the same dilemmas must be confronted – with even more persuading to be done among party members.
2010 offers a very different political landscape for Labour’s leader, of course. By 1997 Tony Blair and Gordon Brown had broken free of the party’s past. Ed Miliband has only just started on that journey.
In doing so he has been forced to take steps which will rile those across the left wing of British politics. This is what it takes to offer Labour a fresh start, which – after 13 years in government – is perhaps what the party needs most of all.
