david miliband: left comfort zone ‘pantomime role’
david miliband, labour leadership candidate, delivers a speech designed to regain the initiative in the contest, which has previously been with his brother:
“the debate has been too comfortable. not enough acknowledgement of the challenges we face. not enough sober recognition of how the land lies outside the tent.
“we have spent too much time looking inwards and backwards, when we need to look forwards for new ideas and outwards for a new relationship with voters.
“we need not just to oppose this government. we need to defeat them. it means learning from the past but not simply repudiating it.
“the decision of the lib dems to join a conservative government creates a big opportunity for the labour party to realign the centre left of british politics. but for me, that’s not enough. i see the primary task for labour as shifting the centre ground of british politics.
“there is no future for labour in the comfortable but deadening policies of the past. and there is no future in a politics based on a tactical, patchwork approach to building electoral support.
“opposition is necessary but insufficient. at worse it can take us back into our comfort zone – and our pantomime role in politics.”
