Click on the link above for the original article in The Guardian
He lost out all round last July by dropping out because
of other commitments, which was widely taken as a euphemism for avoiding
appearing on the same bill as the fiery railworkers' leader Bob Crow.
That upset party activists without especially impressing the middle ground, leaving the juggling act
familiar to all Labour leaders in disarray. Warmth this time will be
correspondingly widespread. It's natural, surely, for the party's top man to
appear at the Big Meeting, just as you expect to see Conservative leaders at
comparable jollifications in the shires.
Actually, no. Miliband will be the first Labour leader
for 23 years to speak at the Gala one of those symbolic morsels of fact which
will spice up political histories in years to come. For years, the name and
associations of the event had all the connotations which New Labour least
wanted to embrace.
In reality, it is a grand day out for all the family,
rich in history, colour and of course music, extremely good-natured and, as is
often the way with long-lived political events, a focus for the changing views
and strategies of radicals and reformers. Miliband's fellow-speakers on 14
July, for instance, will include Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, as well as John Hendy, the QC, nick-named 'the miners' brief' and Tom
Watson MP, the scourge of the Murdochs.
Instead of heading for the doldrums, as looked its fate
after Neil Kinnock made the last Labour leader's speech there in 1989, the Gala
is now the UK's biggest regular union fixture and popular with contemporary
musicians as well as the lovely brass bands. Welcoming Miliband's decision,
Dave Hopper, the secretary of the Durham Miners' Association, tells the
Northern Echo:
It is the natural place, in my opinion, for the Labour
Party leader to be. Hopefully, it has ended a very barren period where a number
of people thought that it was wrong to come here. I think he will do himself
more good than harm.
Hopper acknowledges the effective boycott under John
Smith, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, adding:
One or two of them tried to change the party; change the
politics. They thought that we were just old dinosaurs who did not mean
anything. But contrary to most people's expectations the Gala is more important
now than it has ever been.
Let's hope he will tell us we are going to be the next
government and we are going to fight these Tories and fights these attacks on
the working class.
A spokesman for Labour in the region says:
The Big Meeting is one of the highlights of the Labour
movement's calendar and we look forward to welcoming Ed to Durham in the summer
for what I'm sure will be an enjoyable day.
Whatever your politics, get it in your diary. The
atmosphere is infectious and Durham is a lovely place.
