Is Ed a Leader?

It's been a few days now since Ed Miliband became leader of the Labour Party and officially Leader of the Opposition.  Will he lead Labour back to power after a short stint in opposition, or will he be Labour's Ian Duncan Smith?

For many, Ed is an unknown quantity.  Despite him being in the Cabinet as Environment Secretary, he was only elected in 2005, and hasn't quite made the mark for a lot of members, even more so for the public, where many just haven't heard of him.

The so called brotherly fight has been interesting from a media point of view, with Ed beating older brother David, and how David has held himself graciously in public (and private it would seem) but this is a side show, and not really is the issue.  For me, what will Ed be like as leader? Is he soft and cuddly or does he have more balls than Balls? Above all, what ideas is he going to bring to the Party's party?

He won.  Let's not get caught up on how he won; the electoral college that Labour uses, the way the union's galvanised their member's votes, or the fact that one member's vote can be worth more than someone else's vote.  That's another debate and another blog.

First, is he a gutsy guy?  Look at it like this.  When your older brother has been publicly spoken about as the next leader of the Labour Party, when he was the one who would have spoken about it, dreamed about it, and was the first to put his hat into the ring, and then you come along and say "you know what, I want a bit of this", that shows a streak of determinism, and an element of ruthlessness.  This is backed up by Miliband asking Nick Brown to withdraw from the election as Chief Whip, an opportunity to show steeliness at a very early opportunity.  Don't get me wrong.  I don't think Ed stabbed David in the back, but I do think you need to be gutsy to make the stand.

Secondly, what's he going to be like as a leader?  For me, it's very early days.  However, his first speech as Leader to the Labour Conference shows the outline of where Labour is going.  As Nicholas Watt in The Guardian points out, Ed slowly demolishes the misleading misnomers that have built around him in the past few weeks; him being in the pockets of the unions, the acknowledgement that Labour did badly in the election and that it's time to tell a few home truths.  The move away from the past and New Labour is ironically the most New Labour thing he's done.  Do the Tories fear him? Some say Ed is a light weight in comparison to his brother, so perhaps the jury is out.  For the moment.  I know one thing, Ed's going to have to really work on this, and he knows it.  For that very fact, he will show his strength and won't be Labour's Ian Duncan Smith.

Lastly, if you've got a spare hour, watch Ed's first speech as Leader to the Conference.  See what you think.