Labour conference: Ed attempts to make a clean break

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.

Blair book is bad timing for Labour leadership contest

TONY BLAIR became renowned for his sound judgement of political timing while in office.

After all, Mr Blair was the man who was elected Labour leader in 1994 just as the Conservative government were at their most unpopular.

He then won two landslide election victories in 1997 and 2001 before winning a third general election in 2005 despite having controversially led the country into war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At this point, having served two full terms, Mr Blair was meant to hand over the premiership to Gordon Brown but he famously reneged on the deal.

Extracts of Mr Blair's new book The Journey make it clear why he was so wary of Mr Brown taking charge.

By 2005, their relationship had completely broken down. Mr Blair states in the book that Mr Brown was "maddening" to work with, and that the then-Chancellor threatened to stall Mr Blair's precious New Labour reforms.

Indeed, their partnership was in such tatters that Mr Blair had even consulted Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson over the task of getting rid of a 'star' player.

In the end, Mr Blair chose to keep his Chancellor and eventual successor, fearing that sacking him would only accelerate his rise to the top, given the standing he then held within the party.

When Mr Blair did eventually step down in 2007, his timing was spot on again as he avoided the unforeseen global recession which ended up plaguing Mr Brown's three years in charge.

However, today's occasion, the timing of the release of Mr Blair's memoirs leaves a lot to be desired for Labour, overshadowing a vital stage of the party's leadership contest.

Worse still, Mr Blair and his long-time ally Peter Mandleson seem intent on reviving New Labour politics during the contest even though it is now associated more with infighting than anything constructive.

If nothing else, Mr Blair's book simply acts as a reminder as to how divisive government became under New Labour, a major factor in its eventual failure at the polls in May.

And yet, Labour look set to select more of the same with Blairite former foreign secretary David Miliband holding a comfortable lead in all of the polls of the leadership contest.

Despite his words to the contrary, it is hard to see how Mr Miliband is a clean break from the past. At least his brother Ed seems to have accepted New Labour's biggest mistakes such as the removal of the 10p tax band.

But this is the same Ed Miliband who wrote the manifesto for this year's failed general election campaign and that is something he is unlikely to shake off easily.

The other three candidates - Ed Balls, Andy Burnham and Diane Abbott - would appear to have little or no chance of succeeding in this contest.

Indeed, backbencher Ms Abbott only ended up on the ballot paper by collecting MPs signatures which would have gone elsewhere but for the need to make the contest appear more inclusive.

The likely election of David Miliband to the leadership is unlikely to distinguish easily this Labour opposition to the New Labour government largely rejected by the public in May.

There remain fears among Labour circles that the party could be in for another long spell of opposition if the Conservatives improve their position at the next election.

Being Labour leader in the coming years could be a thankless task, perhaps even a poisoned chalice.

But then not all party leaders can be as lucky with their timing as Mr Blair.