Peter Hoskin

Ed Miliband elected Labour leader: live blog

1704, PH: We’ll leave it there, although we’ll have more reaction on Coffee House shortly.

1702, PH: I’ve already forgotten Miliband’s final line, although it involved the phrase “new generation”. Not a great speech, but some turnaround for him over the course of the contest.

1700, PH:
Ooh, what does that mean for Ed Balls? Miliband says that, “I do believe we’ve got to reduce the deficit, but we’ve got to do more to help the country”.

1700, JF:
It is what Labour MPs were calling the Doomsday scenario, Ed loses MPs and Members but wins thanks to massive support in the union section. Tonight there will be those who will question the legitimacy of a leader who did not win the majority support of either his MPs or his party members. Ed Miliband is a talented politician and the most able communicator of all the candidates but he has a real challenge to hold everything together over the next few weeks.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in