Ed Miliband: I’m my own man

As activists arrived at Manchester the new opposition leader Ed Miliband set out his vision for taking on the coalition government in a high profile television interview on BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show.

In the interview he insisted that he would be “my own man” amid Tory claims his union backing would push the party to the left.

In his first interview since the vote, the new leader of the opposition played down union bosses’ post-result claims that their man had been elected.

He told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show: “I am nobody’s man, I am my own man. I am very clear about that.”

He said he believed strike action “always have to be a last resort” and insisted that the unions were showing a “sense of responsibility” over the need for public spending cuts.

He insisted he enjoyed a “brief chat” with brother David Miliband, but that it was too early to know whether he will play any role in the shadow cabinet.

He said: “We had a brief chat yesterday. He has shown extraordinary generosity and graciousness to me both in public and in private and he now wants me to get on with the job of leading the party.”

With talk David could be the new shadow chancellor, Ed Miliband said: “He needs time to think about the contribution he can make. I think he can make a very big contribution to British politics.

“He needs the space to do that and we’ve got shadow cabinet elections next week, after this conference, so there is a bit of time for all that.”

‘Prisoner of the trade unions’
Yesterday Ed Miliband wasted no time in attacking the Tory-Lib government, pledging at the conference to work “every hour of every day” to remove David Cameron from Downing Street.

The Tories were quick to seize on his reliance on the trade union votes to secure the leadership ahead of his brother, as evidence of a shift to the left.

But Miliband pointed out in the Andrew Marr interview that he received more individual votes in the contest than any of his rivals and defended his high proportion of support from the unions.

He said: “Why did union members vote for me in large numbers? Because I think I was talking about things that matter to working people in this country.

“Not just issues of low pay…or inequality but issues around tuition fees and how people can get on and their kids can get on in life, housing.”

He also used a newspaper article to say he was “on the side of the squeezed middle”.

Ed Miliband - 'prisoner of the trade unions'?

The Tories will go hard on Ed Miliband being the prisoner of the trade
unions, writes Channel 4 News Political Editor Gary Gibbon.

He'll be watched like a hawk after a result that delivered him victory only thanks to the trade union section.

There were gasps in the hall as the black block in the graph marking the
trade union contribution to his victory seemed to get bigger in every
round.

I've just had a look at the turnout for the big 3 trade
unions that backed him in the summer - the GMB, Unite and Unison. If
you average the 3 together you get a collective turnout of 8.3 per cent
in these three unions.

Read more 

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he conceded that Labour had “a lot of ground to make up” and faced a “long journey” to get back into government but said he approached the challenge with “relish”.

He promised to ensure the party recognised its mistakes and paid particular attention to such issues as housing, immigration, student fees and the Iraq war. He also vowed to act as a responsible opposition and present a “constructive” alternative.

He said: “We need to accept the mistakes we made in these areas and show that we have changed. We must never again lose touch with the mainstream of our country.”

He said Labour would “not oppose every cut” the coalition makes, knowing that in some areas “public services will now need to learn to do more with less”.

He said: “But, that does not mean simply swallowing the programme of cuts the Government is setting out.

“It is not just that too often they penalise people who had no hand in causing the crisis, while protecting those that did. It is also that the wrong cuts at the wrong time will put recovery at risk.”

He pointed to prison policy, tuition fees and Afghanistan as areas his party could work with the government on.

He concluded: “My aim is to show that our party is on the side of the squeezed middle in our country and everyone who has worked hard and wants to get on.

“My aim is to return our party to power. This is a tough challenge. It is a long journey. But our party has made the first step in electing a leader from a new generation.

“It is now down to me to make the change happen. That is a challenge I relish.”

Tight contest
The race to succeed Gordon Brown was won by a whisker yesterday, with Ed Miliband winning just 1.3 per cent more votes than his brother David, scoring 50.65 per cent to David’s 49.35 per cent.

Older brother David won a majority of Labour’s MPs at Westminster and grassroots activists, but Ed pipped him to the post with his dominance among the trade unions.

All defeated candidates pledged to unite behind Mr Miliband, his brother insisting there was a “strong mood” in the party to rally behind the “new agenda”.

But the Conservative party chairman Baroness Warsi claimed it was “a great leap backwards for the Labour Party”.

She said: “Ed Miliband wasn’t the choice of his MPs, wasn’t the choice of Labour Party members but was put in to power by union votes.

“He will have many challenges ahead in these next few days, but if he wants to be taken seriously, the first thing he’s got to do is own up to his role in creating the mess that Britain is in and tell us what he’d do to fix it.

“From advising Gordon Brown in the Treasury in the 90s, to serving in his Cabinet in the 2000s, he must recognise his central role in creating the financial mess we’re all paying for.”

She said he had to now decide whether to work with the coalition in sorting the financial crisis out, or sit on the sidelines and “refuse to engage with the biggest challenge facing Britain in decades”.

Miliband’s first week
Ed Miliband, at the age of 40, is Labour’s youngest ever leader. He will deliver a keynote speech to conference on Tuesday, but is not expected to play any formal role in today’s opening proceedings.

The conference is the formal start of elections for Miliband’s shadow cabinet, with MPs able to officially put themselves forward to party whips as candidates.

Some 43 MPs have publically confirmed they want to be part of the shadow cabinet. There are 19 available places in the 7 October vote, but attention is focused on the future of the older Miliband brother.

There is speculation he has been offered the job of shadow chancellor, but he has declined to discuss his plans as he puts a brave face on defeat to his brother.

“I’m moved and honoured by your support and proud of the campaign we ran together. I now passionately want Ed to have a united party behind him,” the shadow foreign secretary said in a message to supporters.

The prime minister congratulate Ed Miliband in a three minute phone call, but warned him of the pressures of the job on family life.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes offered his congratulations, but warned Labour’s new leader that his party “can no longer remain head-in-the-sand deficit-deniers”.

At conference today Douglas Alexander will deliver a speech on why Labour “lost badly” in the election and general secretary Ray Collins will also address the members as well as a debate on renewing party democracy.

We got it right, writes Editor of Left Foot Forward Will Straw for Channel 4 News. Ed Miliband won, and ultimately it came down to the distribution of Ed Balls' second preferences which went roughly 60:40 to Ed Miliband.

The difference was that Ed Balls himself didn't either give a second preference or indicate to his supporters what his second preference was going to be.

The other interesting point is that Diane Abbott's votes went three to one to Ed, and Andy Burnham's were 50:50. So the argument of second preferences favouring Ed was proved to be true.

As we've shown on Left Foot Forward today, this caricature that is was "union barons" that swung it for Ed misrepresents affiliates of the party; they include the Fabian Society, the Christian Socialist Movement and the Fabian Society, and union members vote as individuals - teachers, nurses and carers.

Ed Miliband had 47 per cent of MPs, so very, very close to half. And among the membership he was on 45 per cent. Very close in both those categories.

Ed Miliband made a good start this morning on Marr and needs to continue that approach. He needs to avoid the trappings of triangulation (the Blair/Clinton approach of positioning yourself in opposition to your supporters) and instead continue being open and honest about his beliefs. For example, Ed Miliband's policies on taxation, a high pay commission and graduate tax are all popular, mainstream views.

In his speech he has to address the elephant in the room (the trade unions) but be clear about the benefits of workplace representation, and accept that increased membership will make unions more representative.