ED MILIBAND marked his first speech as the new leader of Labour with an attempt to move his party away from the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown era.
Mr Miliband said he believed that the Iraq war was "wrong", and that he understood why voters were angry about the deregulation of the City and Mr Brown's promise of an end to 'boom and bust'.
The keynote address was Mr Miliband's first major job in his new role since he beat his brother David and three other candidates in the leadership election result on Saturday.
Mr Miliband won with 50.65% of the overall vote as compared to David's share of 49.35% in the final round after the elimination of Diane Abbott, Andy Burnham and Ed Balls.
During the campaign, Mr Miliband - who only entered Parliament in 2005 as MP for Doncaster North - had already positioned himself as the man who represented change.
For instance, he had already stated that he was opposed to the Iraq war in 2003.
By contrast, David Miliband was seen as the Blairite candidate of continuity, likely to keep faith with the New Labour ethos that had brought 13 years of power.
But that period ended in acrimony with policy created on the hoof, almost daily battles between Blairites and Brownites, an obsession with spin, and five million lost votes.
When Peter Mandleson criticised Mr Miliband's 2010 manifesto and put his weight behind frontrunner David, it was perhaps the last thing the older brother needed.
Not that the eventual victor Ed avoided scrutiny too.
Indeed, while the backing of the majority of the unions ultimately ensured his victory, it also led to the right-wing press almost immediately terming him 'Red Ed' for an apparent lurch to the left-wing.
Today, Mr Miliband shrugged off the nickname, stating he would not support "irresponsible strikes" and demanding a "grown up debate" on the state of politics to be held.
But he might be entering into that discourse without defeated brother David who is still yet to confirm whether he will stand in the ballot to enter the Shadow Cabinet.
The ballot closes at 5pm tomorrow evening and the longer it takes for David to make up his mind, the more likely it seems that the elder brother will be leaving frontline politics.
South Shields MP David has been nothing less than gracious since Saturday's defeat but notably disagreed with his younger brother's stance on Iraq, refusing to applaud that bit of the speech.
A snub from former foreign secretary David would be a hard early blow for Mr Miliband but at least the leadership election and conference has his party in an unfamiliar position of strength.
The coverage of the Labour conference has helped the party achieve a poll lead over the Conservatives in the Sun's YouGov daily tracker for the first time since the 'non-election' in the autumn of 2007.
It is also the first time in three years that Labour has polled at 40 percent, well up on the 29 percent they polled in May's general election.
But the lead is likely to be short-lived given the Tories are still just a point behind and will expect to see a similar boost from their conference next week.
The more pertinent aspects of the poll centred on Mr Miliband himself with a plurality of 43% expecting him to do well as Labour leader, against 23% who do not. 34% are undecided.
One-third of those surveyed thought trade unions will have too much influence over him while 29% disagreed and 38% didn't know.
Finally, 42% considered that he had moved the party to the left but only 19% thought that 'Red Ed' moniker was justified.
However, on the point of the 'Red Ed' description, again 51% were undecided - that is hardly a surprise so early into his leadership.
And so, it would seem Labour has actually made a sound choice in electing Mr Miliband ahead of his brother.
To the majority of the electorate, he is a blank canvas and, seemingly, the most convincing candidate with whom to make a clean break.
Being on the opposition benches can be a stifling, depressing existence but the new leader has made a solid, if rather unspectacular, start in his attempts to engage the public and move his party on.
But, having already spent six months of the new Parliament on electing a new leader, now is the time for Labour to provide some effective and, importantly, some united opposition.
That is ultimately the factor on which Ed Miliband will be judged.
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