I was looking forward to the speech by Lord Mandelson yesterday. Not least because the gentleman that owns our bed and breakfast has been asking about him every morning. I think he likes more than his politics! The speech was a humbling rally to the party members. Self deprecating throughout, Mandelson had the hall swooning with such lines as “If I can come back... we can come back.” That's not to say the speech was without substance, it was packed with dividing lines, policy announcements and setting a vision for the future. He reminded us “that you win elections on the future, not the past ” and made a commitment to secure the future of British manufacturing. Which will have been encouraging to Unite joint general secretary Derek Simpson, who had made his own dry and amusing comments in the debate. The conference followed on with speeches by Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Norwegian Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg and Climate Change secretary, Ed Miliband. All highlighted the relationship between the economic recovery and the need to tackle climate change as we focus on rebuilding a greener economy. The question Mandelson asked, as we work on the global challenges with other countries, is “Where are the Tories on all this?” What alternative are they presenting? If you examine what they are saying, they present an alternative of deep and savage cuts to public services, isolation in Europe and tax cuts for the rich. No wonder they don't want to shout out about it!” Emma Hoddinott
Comments