SPEECH DECONSTRUCTION
∂∂ Thanks to Ed Miliband for the leadership he gave our party, and for the courage and dignity he showed in the face of tawdry media
attacks ΣΣ Above all, thank you for introducing the new leadership elec
tion rules because otherwise Andy Burnham would be giving this speech and you wouldn’t
want that, would you?
∂∂ I am not a leader who wants to impose leadership
lines all the time ΣΣ I tried imposing my view on
Trident, but Unite voted it down, so I had better pretend
the new politics is all about open and listening leadership… until I can bring in new rules to give the supporters who voted
for me the power over policy. ∂∂ Tory economic failure. An economy that works for the
few, not for the many ΣΣ “For the many not the few” is a phrase that Tony Blair wrote into
the new Clause IV: I have not only defeated New Labour, I am
going to steal its best tunes.
∂∂ Young people and older people are fizzing with ideas.
Let’s give them the space for that fizz to explode into the joy we want of a better
society ΣΣ Imagine there’s no heaven,
above us only sky. And non-capitalist carbonated
sugary drinks.
∂∂ I say to all activists: cut out the personal attacks. And especially the misogynistic
abuse online ΣΣ This hurts me more than it
hurts you. ∂∂ Labour’s policy now is to deliver the fully integrated,
publicly owned railway the British people want
and need ΣΣ Tony Blair said much the same when he was on this platform in
1995. This time, comrades, the story is going to end differently. ∂∂ There’s no answer to this crisis that doesn’t start with a new council house-building programme. With new homes that are affordable to
rent and to buy ΣΣ Imagine there’s no money, and houses build themselves, nothing to live or die for, just homes
fit for heroes for all.
∂∂ Some people have property and power, class
and capital, status and clout which are denied to
the many ΣΣ I had a bet with John McDonnell that I could get class and capital into the speech. Now I want his
signed copy of DasKapital.