Ed Miliband will roam the stage as he delivers his leader’s speech. With negative polls about whether voters can see him as Prime Minister been giving prominent play in the papers, the stakes for this speech have been raised.
I suspect that the speech will be better delivered than last year’s—Miliband is far more comfortable when he is not behind a podium—and more tightly written. Judging by what has been briefed out in advance, we know that it also contains more concrete policies.
But I expect that the speech will still set off quite the political bun fight. The Tory strategy for the next election campaign requires them to, in effect, disqualify Miliband as a potential Prime Minister. Also in this anti-politics age, it is risky for any politician to talk in personal terms about their background.
One senior Tory I spoke to this evening was convinced that the Miliband PPB emphasising his comprehensive school roots was a strategic error.
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