The New Statesman was lucky enough to have the new Labour leader, Ed Miliband, say a few words at its reception at Labour conference.
His speech to the well-refreshed and boisterous crowd touched on some of the main themes he hopes will characterise his leadership of the party.
First, Miliband focused on the need to build “a mass party, like we did in 1997”. Then he called for an end to the infighting and factionalism that dogged the Blair-Brown years. His duty as leader, Ed said, “is to unify the party. We will have no more factions in this party. We will have a united party.”
Most of the speech was devoted to the need to win back young people, and how to make Labour an inspiring party to join once more. “The way you become an inspiring party to join is by not being part of the establishment, and being willing to question and challenge old truths.”
“Whether it is civil liberties, or climate change, or foreign policy, we’ve got to be the party that is willing to question old truths. I think we can become the natural home of young people and people who want an inspiring politics again — but we need to change in order to do that.”
You can watch the full speech below.
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