So, then. Welcome to the Labour Leadership, Mr Miliband.
A good opening speech. Not barnstorming, perhaps there will be time for that later. Just enough to give people the taste of a future party, no longer tethered to elements of the past.
One phrase stuck out in particular:
“At the beginning we were a radical and reforming government...we became the establishment, when you become the establishment you get kicked out of power”.
Er ... yes. Quite. Except, the issue here is - at what point does one become the establishment? The Liberal Democrats, so long the fringe party, have suddenly become part of The Big E. Their ministers seem to revel in it (poor David Laws looked completely at home in Government, for as long as he was able to stay). The party faithful and activists are largely pragmatic now: some were initially horrified, but it looks as though some semblance of their party identity should outlast this coalition, if not the Commons seats. And yet they are now part of The Big E.
When did it happen to New Labour? Was it at the point Tony Blair decided to work together with President Bush, and invade Iraq? Or was it much earlier, at the point in which Mr Blair courted the News Corporation before the famous 1997 landslide?
The fact is, at some point, the incumbent Government always become "the Establishment", and because of the nature of Government, they have to push through legislation, policies and reforms which will become distasteful to the party faithful, if not much of the electorate.
There will always be those who love opposition. They can stand at the sides, spectate and snipe, they can wave their banners, flags, holler and bellow their outrage for as long as they like. They don't necessarily have to give an account for their behaviour to anyone; their choices, their penchants, their follies, their mistakes. The press couldn't care.
But sometimes you are given the option to move on from the sidelines, to take office, to become responsible. You have to think about the clothes you wear, the language you use, the friends you keep, the way you might look on television or sound on radio when summoned at a moment's notice to give an account of a policy or party line you might not agree with. You may have the opportunity to implement ideas that you have long cherished. But you may also have to compromise: that long-held passion suddenly pales when you are confronted with the realities of responsibility: once at the forefront of your personal political agenda, it gets relegated, and ultimately removed from your priority list. You have other pressing decisions to deal with, people to talk to, papers to read, meetings and conferences to attend. You find yourself receiving the less friendly attention of a Question Time audience, no longer able to rouse people to their feet in outraged opposition, but rather, become the unwilling recipient of epithets like "patronising", "out-of-touch" and "uncaring". The Conservatives have always been part of The Big E, even when in opposition - it's their natural habitat.
For Labour to avoid becoming part of The Big E whilst in opposition may be relatively easy. But with the current climate of cuts comes a lot of responsibility, which will weigh fairly heavily on the new Shadow Cabinet. The responsibility to challenge the coalition, but to retain rationale. To bring the electorate and their party with them, whilst accepting that the cuts may have to be severe in places. But the Shadow Cabinet will still be just that - a Shadow. If the country decide to put Mr Miliband into Number 10 in 2015, the challenge will be not when they become the Big E, rather how long they can last outside it.
