Ed Miliband's conference speech live stream

He's not claiming to be 'Mr Regular' whatever that means just claiming - truthfully - to have gone to a comp and mixed with ordinary kids not just super-rich kids. He does actually know how ordinary people live even if yes, his childhood was not ordinary

Far from claiming to be 'Mr Regular' he talks in the speech about having famous political figures round the kitchen table as a kid. Hard;y ordinary - he acknowledges this.

He is using his comp education, immigrant background to make out he has had to overcome obstacles whereas in fact his upbringing was pretty priviledged. He has little in common with people like me whose parents having arrived in the UK with 3 dc lived in grotty housing, worked in unskilled poorly paid jobs surviving hand to mouth and had no choice of which schools their kids went to. I would respect him more if he just said " I had a normal comfortable upbringing went to a decent school and this is what I wish for the people of the UK who currently don't have that" but this of course does not make headlines.

No one is blaming the guy for having a brilliant internationally renowned father. It just makes his claim to be mr regular a bit hard to swallow.

Oh come on, some people on here woudn't be happy no matter where he went to school. As for the poster who thought him getting into Oxford implied some sort of 'friends in high places', that's nonsense - he's about my age, and when I went to Oxford, 2Es was the standard offer - so anyone could get in ith less than stellar A Levels - no string-pulling required.

I don#t see why it is regarded as OK to blame for the guy for having a dad who was an academic - his dad didn't get that by connections, he arrived as an immigrant and presumably got it on merit - not Ed's 'fault' his dad was bright and hard-working and I cannot see why this is supposed to put voters off him?

I'm going with the theory that labour don't want to win the next election

I think he's quite refreshing in his own way

At least he isn't son of Blair (and ergo grandson of Thatcher)

Ever so bloody long wasn't it

I got a bit bored

I hated the dinosaurs bit

Ed Miliband is just another one of the elites. He's just a different sort of elite to David Cameron. They are all elites, standing for much the same thing. Its all so confusing now. One Nation Tories. One Nation Labour. Red Tory. Blue Labour.

Now if any of these politicians eg. Clegg, Cameron, Osbourne, Gove, Balls, Milliband sent their dc to my local tough inner city comp with 48% fsm then I would feel they are with the people and admire them for it. But sending them to highly selective state schools such as The Oratory, the grammars or where the catchment houses cost at least £1M, which most people have no hope of getting heir dc into is totally disingenuous IMO

He reminds me of Will from The Inbetweeners. I can just imagine him turning up with a briefcase on his first day at Ridge Park Comp.

I find flogging the comp education very disingenuous. Lots of people are state educated and still turn out to be heartless capitalists - I don't see it automatically makes you a socialist hero.

Obviously i would never be writing a speech but i can tell you now, if i was i cannot imagine my then three year old son saying "you cant do this on your own mummy" . Dont get me wrong my son is very bright, but really!!!!!! Really?. Those words dont sound like the words of a three year old. I was cringing.

Agree with mumzy- why on earth he is pulling the "I went to a comp" card?

1. It's irrelevant
2. He's the son of a professor - hardly " one of us"
3. He's like all those new labour twats who will spend a million on a house in a good catchment area just so they can say " oh we would never send our child to private school"

Ed Milliband lives in a massive house near Hampstead Heath as well - it would definitely have cost seven figures. I'm not that sure he does know how real people live and the fact that he has spent all his life in politics or academia doesn't help.

Really lacked content - just repeating the mantra 'one nation' is no substitute for policies. In addition, the opening of the speech was full of sickening sentimentality - the bit about his son was particularly cringeworthy.
As if he should be elected just because he went to a comp - is that really any different to Cameron thinking he was 'born to rule'?

The problem with Ed Milliband is he is so disingenious. I don't buy his "I went to a comp and as a result are with the people" speech. His school was in Hampstead and his dad was a socialist millionaire. Also the fact that he and his brother tried to avoid inheritance tax through some dodgy loophole and went to Oxford with less than impressive A level grades shows he is one of the elite and his family had enough links with people in high places.

Both my parents are immigrants Both dh and I went to bog standard comps and through hard work went to university and are now both professionals. We have chosen to send ds1 to public school for secondary because of the mess labour left the state education system. Ed Milliband and Labour will not be getting my vote.

PS don't buy that it was ad libbed in places, but blinking heck he's got a good memory. Must have taken aaaaaages to learn all that -he should enjoy having that much time on his hands before he's running the government!!

I was pleasantly surprised. He is not famed for being an engaging communicator but I was really glued to tday's speech, so much so I made myself let for the nursery run! I think we needed to know more about him and we got that; we needed to feel he was on our side and we got that too. Yes, maybe we needed more concrete policy -although I'd rather they get it right form2015 than get some cheap quick wins in for every party conference, local elections, etc.

The vast majority of what he said could have been said by any other politico without amendment- no one is going to say we don't want a good NHS or we want crap schools....the constant repetition was tedious after a while but he did look like he might have a sense of humour in there somewhere.

But overall it looks like he needs to go back to the Sixth firm debating Soc with Nick Clegg

Justine looked nice

I'll bet my bottom dollar that Ed Milliband didn't go to the same kind of sink comp that I and my contemporaries attended.He grew up amongst the left wing academic intelligensia and no amount of 'I'm just like you,really I am' is going to cut it with me.His upbringing and the upbringing of the vast majority of people in this country have nothing in common. I'm the last person to hold someone's background against them and snobbery,reverse or otherwise is my bugbear,but do not pretend to be something you aren't to try and win votes.We aren't stupid.

I hate the inverse snobbery being invoked. All this 'my dad was poorer than your dad' crap is utterly fake. Why would anyone strive for success in a Milliband-led society if all it will get them is open resentment & accusations of being out of touch? Lowest common denominator... no thanks.

I quite like him and still came away feeling uninspired. He's not a bad orator (now) and it's very impressive that he managed to do the whole thing without notes or fluffing it, but the content was mostly just rehashed same old same old. Shame really, it could have been brilliant.

well, the bits i've seen suggest to me he didn't come across as badly as usual. It's not saying much, but hey, it's something! Still wouldn't vote for any of them.

I suspect that my experience of a local comp and Ed millibands experience are pretty far apart.

I would weigh his education far more heavily if it wasn't presented as proof that he is just a regular guy.
That is the most awful guff and I am staggered if there is anyone other than those who desperately wish to, that see it as meaning anything other than that his parents were lefty academics.

He should step off the 'awful posho people are the problem'

Pretending that you should dislike Cameron for his schooling rather than his policies is patronising and infantile.

Seriously. A Labour opposition. please

I listened to it all found it pretty dull tbh.

Didn't learn anything new or find out about new inspiring policies.

Found it either bland a bit patronising, don't think Red Ed is going to do it for Labour.

Oxford, Harvard, millionaire. Yeah, one of the people.

There is no opposition.

But then again he has Ed "Who said that about me?" Balls on his team. FAIL.