Miliband ‘a small–c conservative’

ED MILIBAND’S speech to the Labour annual conference this month revealed him as a “small-c conservative” who wants to turn the party away from Blairism, Cabinet minister Michael Gove said.

Mr Miliband’s appeal to “One Nation Labour” marked not a move to the centre, as has been interpreted by many commentators, but an “explicit disavowal” of the centrism practised under Tony Blair’s leadership.

“That is why it is a fundamental mistake…to see Ed Miliband’s One Nation speech as a move to the centre,” he added. “Where Tony Blair used his speeches to identify the forces of conservatism and declare war on them, Ed Miliband has used his speech to celebrate the forces of conservatism and declare he wants to become their leader.”