Ed Miliband admits he forgot the section of his speech on deficit

And that awkward kiss? ‘All I can say is my wife has never complained’
Ed Miliband leans in to kiss his wife at the Labour conference Picture: Jeremy Selwyn
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An embarrassed Ed Miliband today admitted he simply forgot to deliver crucial sections of his party conference speech dealing with the economic deficit and immigration.

He conceded: “If I did the speech again today I would do it differently.”

Looking weary during a morning round of media interviews, the Labour leader shrugged off his gaffes as “one of the perils” of delivering a 66-minute speech without an autocue.

Asked if he forgot portions of the speech, he told Good Morning Britain: “Absolutely yes. It’s not really about memorising the speech. What I try and do is I try and write a speech and then I use it as the basis for what I want to say to the country.”

But Labour’s leader risked mockery, trying to put a positive gloss on his error by claiming it was part of an attempt to “change the way politics works”.

Mr Miliband was soon insisting his on-the-hoof editing was more “engaging” than a scripted speech, telling BBC breakfast: “I find it quite an effective way of communicating with people.”

His confession put to rest a theory that he deliberately omitted parts of the keynote speech that strayed outside his party’s “comfort zone” of higher spending on the NHS.

Chancellor George Osborne said it was “extraordinary” the Labour leader had not mentioned the deficit. But Mr Miliband said: “The speech was all about … how we change our economy so it works for working people again.”

A draft of the full speech, leaked to a Left-wing blog, revealed he had intended to deliver a tough message about deficit reduction, including the grim warning: “There won’t be money to spend after the election.”

On immigration, he had planned a tabloid-pleasing line about migrants having to learn English. Mr Miliband has also faced mockery over an awkward moment after the speech, when his wife Justine appeared to duck away from a kiss.

The Labour leader looked startled when he was asked on Sky News if he had a “bad breath problem”, before replying: “All I can say is, she’s never complained.”

It was not clear whether Mr Miliband would attempt to memorise a speech if he were to become Prime Minister next year but he insisted he would not change his style in the short term.

He added: “Of course, it’s one of the perils of it that there are bits that get left out, bits that get added in. It sort of comes with the territory.”

The speech, which stretched to 5,707 words, would have lasted an hour and a quarter but for his accidental edits.

Although grandly billed in advance as an over-arching statement of his beliefs and plans, it was badly received by critics, who called it woolly, too long and not challenging enough.

One Labour MP mocked Mr Miliband for his copious references in the speech to ordinary people he had bumped into and been inspired by.

Simon Danczuk said: “It seems strange that none of them he’s met have mentioned immigration and welfare. You do wonder if he has a mental block about talking about these issues.”

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