A Man Crying Out For My Help

Tony's speech to the TUC conference in Brighton has, of course been published in its embargoed press release form by most of the world's press. But I had the Great Leader's speech secretly taped by a colleague in Amicus. What comes across when you listen to the tape are those extra words not on the original script. The words that show you the true emotion of the man. It was a cry for my help - and I am ready and willing to respond to that call in any way that I can.

A great leader with a clear and unwavering sense of direction

I can't reproduce the entire speech - it's much too long - but here is just a small flavour: "Luke, I listed the policy agenda for a Labour government. I re-read it the other day. We've done most of it: the big, headline items like the minimum wage but also things like restoring union rights at GCHQ, things small in themselves, but massively symbolic of a changed government. "Luke, however difficult it is, however fraught our relations from time to time, make no mistake: I want the TUC to carry on being addressed by a Labour PM, not go back to being addressed by the leader of the opposition.

"Luke, globalisation is so often debated today that it can just elicit a yawn. "The world is interdependent" has become a cliché. What isn't clichéd, however, is the response to it. What has changed is the interplay between globalisation, immigration and terrorism.

"Luke, suddenly we feel under threat: physically from this new terrorism that is coming onto our streets, culturally as new waves of migrants change our society, and economically because an open world economy is hastening the sharpness of competition.

"Luke, for all the problems there is no serious doubt the NHS and the schools are improving. No Western European country in the past few years has made more progress than Britain in tackling child poverty.

"But, Luke, I tell you frankly: the leaders do not have swathes of public opinion with them in this endeavour and in some countries have swathes of it against.

"Luke, in my judgement, we need an approach that is strong and not scared, that addresses people's anxieties but does not indulge them, and above all has the right values underpinning it."