Gordon: “The way to deal with tough times…”
“…is to face them down.”
A very good speech that, solid social democratic territory. Straight through. No grovelling, even where he admitted mistakes. “I’m not going to change to something I’m not”.
A coherent vision around ‘fairness’ and a ‘new settlement for new times’. Clear new policies that illustrate the fairness vision and that should be popular – computers for kids, free prescriptions for cancer patients, nursery places from 2. An illustration of the huge challenges of the current environment, and how the ‘new settlement’ leads naturally to action to regulate financial markets and on climate change. A roundup of the good work of the rest of the cabinet. Straight through a solid defence of continued investment in public services and praise for public servants (though conveniently not a sausage on their pay deal).
A sound kicking for the Tories, their pitch for the ‘fairness’ turf, and Osborne’s competence to handle an economy that the last week has fundamentally tilted against unrestrained free marketeers. And an affirmation of why Labour is the party that can deliver on fairness, because “Fairness is in our DNA, it’s why we exist”.
A fair bit of DNC patriotism with an intro from Sarah and some nice Obamesque phrases. Only two and a half jokes, but more wouldn’t have been appropriate. As the man said: “If people say I’m too serious, it’s because there’s a lot to be serious about”. Five minutes applause before the sound cut out on BBC Parly. Good job, and about the best I think we could have heard.
Tags: Conference, Gordon Brown, Labour, Labour Conference, speech
