“Thank you, thank you, thank you very much. Thank you,” repeated Ed Miliband, like a man who knows he has no change in his pockets watching a bellboy haul four heavy bags up 10 flights of hotel stairs.
“Thank you very much” – it was how he began Labour’s manifesto announcement, and how he ended it.
Apart from a few odd verbal ticks – his constant address of the crowd as his “friends” reminded me of the Inbetweeners’ Jay – Miliband cut a strong, determined and, above all, confident figure.
“It was the most powerful speech I have seen him make,” wrote the BBC’s Nick Robinson, although he did point out that while the language was new the content was not.
There were some good lines: “Cameron will never be the answer because he is strong standing up to the weak and weak standing up to the strong”; “You can’t fund the NHS with an IOU”; and “the next Labour government will be pro-business but not pro-business as usual”.
Very impressed with @Ed_Miliband today. A good speaker and the right leader for the UK 🇬🇧 #Labour
— Dr. Imran Akram (@DrimranKakram) April 13, 2015
The party faithful and media commentators in general seemed impressed:
Miliband pulls off a tricky marriage of radicalism and credibility - my review of Labour's manifesto. http://t.co/4FLDCGyxqz
— George Eaton (@georgeeaton) April 13, 2015
Miliband taken leaf out of Hillary's book: she said when families strong, America strong. He says when working people succeed, UK succeeds
— Julia Macfarlane (@juliamacfarlane) April 13, 2015
David Cameron is only mentioned once in Labour's manifesto. I'm guessing the same won't be the case of the Tories on Ed Miliband tomorrow
— Matt Dathan (@matt_dathan) April 13, 2015
Never seen Miliband in such relaxed, funny form. It's weird.
— Nico Hines (@NicoHines) April 13, 2015
That was a confident speech by Miliband. He has the look of someone who a) thinks they can win & b) wants to. Contrasts with Cameron.
— Tim Stanley (@timothy_stanley) April 13, 2015
Nick Clegg, however, chose to attack Labour’s spending restraint with a rather vulgar joke about alcoholism, which, given a) former Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy’s issues with drinking, and b) his party’s pledges on mental health, did not go down well.
Boris Johnson, a day after calling Tony Blair an epic tosser, went with this:
Mili won't say that they borrowed too much last time. Why hand the keys of the car back to the Thelma and Louise of British politics?
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 13, 2015
And perhaps the most damning quote came from Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Financial Studies (IFS):
Literally we would not know what we were voting for if we were going to vote for Labour.
Meanwhile, Michael Gove hung around in the shadows, a Man City fan lurking in the Theatre of Dreams.
The main downside for Ed, however, as Jonathan Freedland and Hugh Muir point out, is that the majority of the electorate is not made up of hacks, party members and political nerds, and will have been at work while the speech played.
They will have missed his new statesmanlike incarnation – the hand gestures that originated with Blair, and have been copied by Cameron; the flat palm shuffling an invisible pack of cards.
So what has been the people’s reaction to the policies announced in the manifesto?
Mixed. The lowering of the voting age to 16 – one of the few things not entirely expected, but no doubt inspired by Scotland’s referendum engagement levels – has been well received. Which, along with Labour’s pledge to cut tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000 should play well with the young.
"Ed Miliband says Labour will lower the voting age in the UK to 16.” GOOD
— Daniel Hart (@KingDingDan) April 13, 2015
If you are deemed old enough to have sex with your elected MP, you should have the ability to elect them. #LabourManifesto #Labour #GE15
— Robbie Travers (@RobbieTravers) April 13, 2015
Many people across social media questioned Miliband’s depiction of Labour as the most fiscally responsible party. His pledge that a Labour government would cut the deficit year-on-year throughout parliament was, perhaps, a risk.
Abolishing the bedroom tax, levies on tobacco companies and an increase in staff for the NHS – 20,000 more nurses, 5,000 home care support workers, 3,000 more midwives and 8,000 more doctors – have been mostly applauded.
However, the fact that #SameOldLabour is a trending hashtag in the Twittersphere proves that not all is hunky dory.
The last word goes to Buzzfeed’s Jamie Ross, who is just saying what we’re all thinking:
Trying to resist asking why Miliband has backed out of his owl pledge.
— Jamie Ross (@JamieRoss7) April 13, 2015
