He did what he had to do and he did it well

I am not sure if Gordon had an "Obama moment" but it was a very good speech. Reflection tells me that Gordon will never do an Obama. His skill set does not allow for that but then he is not Barak Obama, he is Gordon Brown, to borrow from the school of the bleedin' obvious, so why should he. It was Gordon Brown we needed to see today and we did

The speech seemed well received with of course, the usual knockers who had though up their own sound bite before the day had begun, For an insider view I am expecting a comment from our own CLP delegate though at time of writing that has not happened.

Gordon choose not to include any of my ideas but that was to be expected. What he did do was what i really wanted him to do offer a consistent set of clear values, in this case based around the idea of a traditional Labour value of fairness. Fairness is something the Tories do not understand and the Libdems want but are not prepared to make the decisions to get there. (what, for example, is fair about a 2p cut in taxes which will reduce public services and most benefit the rich?) and to that end Gordon spoke as a Labour politician ready to use power well, not as simply some-one who wanted power for its own sake.

The journey back to electoral competitiveness is a long one and we do not have much time but this was a good start. There remains much work ahead and it will not be either easy or pleasant but, because it will be about fairness for all, it will be worth it.