New Labour is gone, the party's new leader, Ed Miliband insists, but a hard road lies ahead, writes MARK HENNESSY, London Editor, in Manchester
GREETED BY a smattering of applause, Diane Abbott was the first of the candidates to walk into the semi-darkness of the Manchester Central convention centre. David Miliband came second: the applause intensified, but so, too, did the tension.
Ed Balls and Andy Burnham followed. Ed Miliband was the last to enter; but, here, the applause was noticeably less intense than that given to his brother. He stopped to greet a few; shook hands with one, or two, lightly kissed the cheek of some.
However, the last shall be first. One by one, the results of the Labour leadership election were displayed on the screen behind the stage – showing David Miliband ahead, but losing ground inch-by-inch to his younger sibling as the figures from the later counts were declared.
Just after 4.49pm, the final result was posted: the room took a collective intake of breath. Ed Miliband was the new leader of the Labour Party, by a whisker. Some hugged each other. Others sat in disbelief.
Greeting a friend just minutes later, Billy Hayes, leader of the powerful Communications Workers’ Union and a supporter of Ed Miliband, chuckled: “God, I wouldn’t like to be in that household at Christmas.” Labour’s new leader did not get majority support from his MPs and MEPs, or the party’s rank-and-file, but, instead, depended on the trade unions and other affiliated organisations, and the later preferences of MPs.
In the bars around Manchester Central late on Saturday night the tensions remained, with rank-and-file supporters of David Miliband, or those who did not want either he, or his brother, muttering, if not openly then at least with some vigour, that they had been robbed.
However, the detail of the figures provides a more complicated situation. Ed Miliband won 35 per cent of the votes from trade unionists and affiliated organisation members – more than anyone else, but not a majority.
Equally, the Labour Parliamentary Party was not overwhelmingly in favour of his brother, as the majority consensus had it yesterday.
David Miliband won 111 of its 267 first-preference votes, whereas his brother got 84. And the younger Miliband received more second-, third- and fourth-preference votes from MPs and MEPs than did his brother. He should, therefore, not face as much disunity as some fear, unless he does things to stoke the fires.
However, the larger unions did play fast and loose with the election rules, including an endorsement letter for Ed Miliband in letters containing the ballot papers. Strikingly, the majority of union members could not be bothered to fill it in and put it in the post: just 10 per cent of Unite did so, for example, while only 7 per cent of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union membership did so – and a quarter of those managed to spoil their ballot.
Labour should not become a house divided, unless it has suicidal tendencies. First, too many still active in the party are old enough to remember the damage caused by the internal battles of the 1980s.
Second, Labour is opposing a Conservative/Liberal Democrats coalition facing into the toughest spending cuts in generations. Faced with the public outcry to come, Ed Miliband should be the next prime minister. It is for Labour and Miliband to lose it.
Painted as "Red Ed" during the latter stages of the campaign, Miliband moved quickly to offer reassurance. He chose the conservative Daily Telegraphto be the vehicle for his first newspaper article as leader, insisting that he will be "on the side of the squeezed" middle-class.
During the campaign he was endorsed by the leadership of the country’s three largest trade unions – including Unison and Unite – and labelled as “Red Ed” as a result; first by some of his brother’s camp and then by elements of the right-wing British press.
Yesterday, he moved to challenge that perception before it becomes a reality, declaring it to be “tiresome” and “rubbish”.
"I am nobody's man. I am my own man. I am very clear about that," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.
The Conservative/Liberal Democrats coalition believes that his stand on the deficit is an Achilles’ heel, though that assumes that voters – most of whom say they accept action is necessary, will stay with that opinion once the cuts are actually made.
Emphasising that a “new generation” is now in charge and that the days of New Labour are over, Miliband has said that he will listen to voters’ reasons for abandoning Labour in May and challenge his party to change where necessary.
So far, however, that is but a slogan. Some in his own party are doubtful about his abilities, and not just people like Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell, who has feared that Miliband may make Labour “feel good about losing”.