Ed Miliband's conference speech live stream

Agree absolutely with pagwatch "the ridiculous emphasis on the schooling of the 40 something men in politics is a complete waste of time"

Of course I dont like that some of them (both parties) are multi millionaires - but i probably like even less that a lot of them are raging hypocrites - like labour govt who gave us all the crap about state schools and higher taxes being wonderful and then individually moved heaven and earth to avoid both.

Didn't see the speech but thought his interview on BBC Breakfast today was shabby. He said Cameron was being evasive about revealing his income and then when asked about his own income got all giggly and evasive himself.

I also think that his refusal to be clear about any policies on the grounds thay an election is still 2 years away means his party lacks all credibility as an alternative to the tories/liberals. Which is frankly pathetic.

I find the constant courting of the "squeezed middle" (from all parties) so depressing. What about the squeezed bottom? The squeeze is on everyone except the very top.

Also, Cogito wrote this, but it is such a good point it is worth mentioning twice!:

Right now, when the global economy is going to hell in a handcart & none of the options on the table are exactly pretty I suspect a lot of the electorate are not looking for hand-wringing empathy and understanding and couldn't give a shit whether it's from 'toffs' or 'Joes'.

But they went too far and it cost too much

If people forget all the good they did, isn't that Ed's fault for doing a bad PR job? Or do we all know that any good they was rather overshadowed by little things like waging war on false pretences and leaving the country potless?

It doesn't matter what anyone's background is, it's more to do with principles. I couldn't care less if he came from one of the best private schools or whether he went to a state school in a former mining town, what is important is that the party works for what it always has and that is providing a good society for the vast majority of the people in this country and supporting those who cannot support themselves, which I believe they did when they were in power. People forget all the good that they did, putting down seeds to create support networks for those struggling, like suretstart centres and the like and all of that good work is being undone. I think this should be concentrated on, not who ate the most pork scratchings

Peter Kay, Dara O'Briain and Michael McIntyre regularly talk on stage for an hour or more without notes, and they're usually slightly more amusing than Ed was. Does this mean they'll be fab PM's?

TheCrackFox I know - the continual focus on him not having a script just sounds patronising - "bless little Ed, he did really well didn't he, didn't even have any notes!". It's the kind of damning with faint praise you do when there's not much else to recommend someone. Of COURSE someone in his position should be able to speak, without a script, from the heart. He doesn't get any bonus points from me for being able to do it.

I hate these speeches. Full of vacuous soundbites and stating the obvious, punctuated by sycophantic applause.

TBH I just cringed and had to stop watching.

Why did he have to announce he didn't have a script? Big deal, he memorised his speach, or just doing the job he is paid to do.

Also I couldn't give a shiney shit what school he went to or what his parents did. He needs to lay off the man of the people spiel as it is improbable that he buys his lunch from Greggs, watches the X Factor on a Saturday night or buys a lottery ticket.

What everyone wants to know is can he fix the economy. Probably not.

Maybe the 'one of us' isn't 'I'm not a toff' but 'I'm not an alien'. Exclusive club consisting of ED, Michael Gove and John Redwood

The "one of us" thing is beginning to wear a little thin. I already know more about the Milibands' family history than if they'd been on Who Do You Think You Are and frankly, I don't give a shit. Also don't care where he went to school, hardly like he had a massive say in it when his parents were such die-hard socialists. It's also incredibly hypocritical- how many of the Labour government were privately educated? Did they care so much in 1997 when they won?

What I do care about is having a leader representing this country who can lead from the front and not look like a work experience student out of his depth most of the time, which Ed fails to do.

Everytime I see Ed Millband I can't get this image out of my mind. gromit is Peter Mandelson or Ed Balls www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/cracking-lookalike-gromit--i-do-resemble-wallace-admits-ed-miliband-7827151.html

So the labour party finally had a whip round and bought some extra ram for the millibot 3000, to increase his capacity to store pre written speech data, how nice for them. Now what does that mean to me?.

I think Ed Milliband should return to his home planet

"Do you mean someone like Thrasher?"

Not especially. Brown's just been mentioned and he certainly had 'Scary Bastard' DNA. But I think if either him or Mrs T or similar political figures had said 'we can do this the easy way or the hard way' there would have been sphincters flapping all the way across the Square Mile. Despite his rough upbringing, Ed's threat didn't quite come off.

Slightly off topic, but did anyone see Gordon Brown's address the Levinson Enquiry, a while back, by the way?

It was the first time I'd really heard him speak and I was really surprised and impressed. He handled the questions honestly, sensitively, with humour and gravitas, and steered the discussions towards big ideas. He came across so well, proper leadership material IMO.

Shame we never saw that side of him publicly when he was in power!

'he doesn't come across as someone who could kick ass at the G7, put nuts in vices, threaten to show where the bodies are buried and whatever else it takes to get UK Plc back on the road'

Do you mean someone like Thrasher?

The long and short is they choose the worng brother the unions bavked the worng horse or wallce as is the case

I think people feel disconnected from politicians and the political process - look at the stupendously low election turnouts ffs - and what Ed was trying to do was get people to reconnect. This is a worthy ambition imo and should be applauded, though a little ham fisted it was better than attempts by the absurd Boris Johnson - does anyone REALLY believe he would make a good PM??? I am open mouthed at his antics whenever he appears in public .
The life experience of a politician must count for something, and whatever the circumstances, a comp experience of any kind will be very different to the Eton experience of most of the cabinet.

I think that the speech as a whole lacked substance - I only detected one firm policy commitment in the whole thing - to seperate venture capital banking from high street banking. For me, that is much more of a problem than Miliband's school posturing - although it is rather cynical to use the fact that you went to a comp. to gather votes. It is true that there are not that many state educated politicians - particularly near the top of their parties. To me, the major reason for this, is that Labour government's in the 70's abolished grammar schools in most of the country - one of the few ways in which some bright working class kids could get a good education. It is particularly ironic that the architects of this policy, Hattersley, Healy, Jenkins et al., were all highly educated, working class ex grammar school boys.

"Miliband is not an ordinary Joe, but he is closer to all of us, has more empathy for us and understands us more than some of the toffs"

Right now, when the global economy is going to hell in a handcart & none of the options on the table are exactly pretty I suspect a lot of the electorate are not looking for hand-wringing empathy and understanding and couldn't give a shit whether it's from 'toffs' or 'Joes'. I think the reason Milliband is failing to score is that he's not nasty enough. Not saying the Tories have the monopoly on Machiavellian techniques but he doesn't come across as someone who could kick ass at the G7, put nuts in vices, threaten to show where the bodies are buried and whatever else it takes to get UK Plc back on the road. Maybe when things are a little rosier we can go back to touchy-feely, let's all worry about where we sat our O-levels politics.... I don't think it strikes the right chord at the moment.

I know Haverstock School and agree with what aufaniae says about it. DM did grow up in Primrose Hill which used to be a bit of a dump in the 70s tbh, although dump is relative, it wasn't anything like it is now. The Millibands did live just round the corner from where Boris grew up. Same area, different outcome!
I had to turn off the Daily Politics last night to take advantage of a sick bag.
I am sick of hearing "blame the bankers", OK they did their bit but the Labour Govt spent ALL the money. I know, I got plenty of it thrown at me as the parent of a disabled child. I don't mean the money to pay for my DS to have a decent school and home life, but all the shite like "making mosaics" courses to make me feel better. And then there was the Child Trust Fund which DD got FFS.

I've never liked Ed Miliband and thought his speech was nothing but waffle. He doesn't have any answers to the problems this country faces. All this one of the people nonsense is fooling nobody. The Labour Party has no chance unless they get somebody else to lead it. That's my opinion.

I went to a comp and am of immigrant stock although second generation from my father but would not vote for somebody simply because they did the same. It is all about the person. The politics for me is irrelevant. They all end up doing the same when they get into power or meddle for meddling's sake. Labour are just glad they can blaim Tories for the cuts and the tories are happy they can blaim labour for the financial problems. As long as they all give into their votes for their own personal political careers like Cameron and the single State Pension and Ed Milliband and the unions, they will all be utterly useless. The only two politicians I rate are Duncan Smith and Steve Webb. Funnily enough DS did go to my school when it was a secondary modern but that is not the reason. Both of them seem to be following their ideals although unpopular with some rather than their political careers. Also much preferred David to Ed.

The Mail has some info on the school.

Miliband did get very good A level results, so we can't say that he had an easy way into Oxford

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2211962/Hardly-bog-standard--Ed-Milibands-days-Eton-lefties.html

His family wasn't wealthy and they were a political family. That is a sign that they really believed what they said. They were not ordinary Joes, but they are also not toffs.

It is important that politicians represent the people and understand how they live. They represent us, and should understand our lives and be in contact with ordinary people rather than living in ivory towers.

I think it was Clegg who thought that the old age pension was something like £30. That is not a good sign and shows how out of touch he was with the people he represents.

Some of these politicians are millionaires and have had all the privileges. They have chauffeur driven cars and some had expenses for duck houses and they get trips to Rio to discusss global warming. Some even introduced policies that fined struggling old-age pensioners £100 for not closing their bin lids (thankfully now scrapped by man of the people, the Tory Eric Pickles). That is why it is so important that politcians understand the lives of teh people they seek to represent.

We have seen on TV programmes, how good MPs have changed their views about the hardships of people living on benefits, when they have had to spend a week living on those council estates.

Miliband is not an ordinary Joe, but he is closer to all of us, has more empathy for us and understands us more than some of the toffs.