Labour Party Conference
2nd October 2012
It doesn't really matter what you do on the Tuesday of conference as long as you find a ticket or queue for 90 minutes for a place in the Conference Hall for the Leader's Speech. And though Ed M's speech would be important there was still 31 months before a General Election so it wasn't crucial though we all hoped he would speak in a language we understood.
We were all wrong as Ed blew us away in a 65 minute oration with no notes and a style we adored. There were spontaneous standing ovations in the middle of his speech and a very generous ovation at the close. Ed Miliband simply knocked us for six. He has redefined the Party and the Nation. There's no doubt he will be our next Prime Minister.
This morning's Tory press (save of course the wretched Mail) has been generous in its praise of the speech. The Tories have three choices - ditch the Coalition, ditch Cameron and bring on BoJo. They will sit on their hands. The next few months might just be fun inside the Westminster village.
In the morning we had Team GB present which was a neat touch.
After Ed's speech, I saw Brian Cathcart of the Hacked Off campaign, Jonathan Freedland from the Guardian (he also writes novels under another name: Sam Bourne) and Daisy, my daughter, who just managed to find a place in the Hall with three minutes to go......
In the evening, we attended a Fabian discussion about Ed's Speech. Tim Montgomerie of ConservativeHome gave it a 10 style and a 9 fr presentation but only a 4 for content. However, he said that content in opposition has to take time. Rare praise from a BoJo supporter.