Ed Miliband speech: Reactions
High profile Labour figures talk to politics.co.uk about Ed Miliband’s speech:.
By Ian Dunt
Oona King, former Bethnal Green and Bow MP and London Labour mayoral candidate
“I think Ed made a very strong speech on responsibility in British society. He talked about responsibility of pay and the living wage, responsibility in terms of the tax system, responsibility in terms of politicians and politics, which is about having grown up politics. He dismissed the ‘Red Ed’ tag, which is really about journalists finding rhyming slang for their headlines and he also made a very strong case for optimism in politics and the Labour party being sure about itself. He offered a prescription for a Britain which feels it doesn’t have enough values in it. And Ed said, in way I haven’t heard any politicians do, he said ‘look, these are the values that we hold dear’.
“[On whether she really thought he wasn’t cool enough to hang out with in school, as he mentioned in the speech] He was too brainy. That can’t be a bad thing, surely, not if you’re going to be prime minister.
“[On Iraq] I thought Ed was absolutely right, what he said. He didn’t make judgements on people who had taken decisions, in my case because I was campaigning for Iraqi human rights in 1998, 1989 – before George Bush was ever elected, before most people in Britain took any notice of what was happening in Iraq. For whatever reason, we got it wrong. And that’s my analysis, that’s what I’ve said on many occasions in public. We got it wrong. We undermined the authority of the United Nations. We should not have done it. Certainly in my view we should not have done it without the post-conflict planning in place because the catastrophe that ensued undermined several aspects of international relations and Britain’s standing in the world, not to mention Labour politics. As one of the highest profile, perhaps the highest profile, scalp as a result: we paid a price. That’s absolutely fine. I actually don’t think that’s relevant to what goes forward. What’s relevant in terms of the future is people understanding as Ed does that it was wrong and saying that clearly – that’s a good thing that’s he’s done.”
Chris Bryant, shadow Europe minister
“It was really good. Always what you get with Ed Miliband is his evident humanity. You’ve got a very human being there. But he’s also got steel. He’s not just going to tell the Labour party what it wants to hear. He’s also going to tell it what it needs to hear as well, as he did on immigration, welfare and many, many other things as well.
“[On Iraq] He was right to say it. We’ve got to draw a line under it. And he didn’t want to criticise anybody who in good faith voted the way they did. This is a new generation. We’re moving forward.”
Hilary Benn, shadow environment secretary
“I thought it was magnificent. That’s leadership for you. He spoke to the party, he was honest about the lessons we need to learn, but he set out a vision for the future. I thought it was hugely impressive.
“Ed was being honest about what he thought. He believes in being straight. That’s one of his great qualities as a leader. Really it was a speech about the future. What he said about optimism is what defines the difference in politics. Yeah, we need to deal with the deficit and he was very clear about that but we also need to have ambition – hope for what this country can achieve.”
Stephen Pound, Labour MP
“I think it was absolutely extraordinary. For years I’ve been justifying leaders speeches, going back before Blair and before Brown.That was incredible. He soared there. What he gave us wasn’t New Labour, but a renewal Labour. It was absolutely extraordinary. I think there’s something there which will touch something in the country. I actually feel, genuinely, we’re on the way back now with Ed as our leader.”
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