Labour Conference: Ed Miliband Denies His Speech Played 'Class Card'

Labour Conference: Ed Miliband denies his speech played ‘class card’

Written on:October 3, 2023

Ed Miliband mentioned the phrase ‘one nation’ 46 times in his Labour Conference speech

Ed Miliband has repudiated the accusation that he was attempting to play the ‘class card’ by emphasising his north London comprehensive education background in his ‘one nation’ speech at the ongoing Labour Party Conference in Manchester.

The Labour leader has maintained that his emphasis on his north London comprehensive education past was to demonstrate to the public what makes him tick. Ed Miliband has mentioned in several radio and TV studios that he felt like explaining to the UK public about his history and the experiences that constructed his political convictions.

One Conservative MP has accused the Ed Miliband speech of resorting to ‘class warfare’ strategies. Ed’s keynote speech, delivered on Tuesday, placed the Labour Party as a political force committed to ‘one UK.’ His speech, which mentioned ‘one nation’ 46 times, also consisted of an autobiographical segment highlighting his background as the son of Jewish immigrants and his time at Haverstock School.

Ed Miliband has steadfastly denied that he was endeavouring to emphasise the contrast to the privileged educational roots of the Eton-educated PM David Cameron.

Miliband remarked to ITV DayBreak that he has been told by people correctly that he needs to reveal more facets of his persona in case he aspires the UK Prime Ministership. Hence, he gave such a speech.

The Ed Miliband speech also saw him accuse David Cameron of giving a cheque to himself and to his Cabinet members by lowering the top tax rate from 50p to 45p next April.

The Labour chief voiced to BBC Radio 5 Live that Old Labour wasn’t careful with public money and was representative of one societal section’s interests. New Labour, as per Ed, was meek in its approach to tackle vested interests like banks and energy companies. Ed’s Labour would differ from previous Labour governments. People becoming millionaires via toil wasn’t something, to which Ed objected, as long as they paid taxes.