Member News
By Tony Grew - 25th September 2010
Former prime minister Gordon Brown has said that he alone is responsible for the Labour party's defeat in May's general election.
In an address to party members before the announcement that Ed Miliband had won the race to succeed him, Brown urged them to "forget the blame game" and set their sights on getting back into power.
He said he takes the "whole fault" of the defeat, which ended 13 years of Labour government, "on my shoulders alone".
The former PM also paid tribute to his predecessor Tony Blair's work in Northern Ireland and to former leaders John Smith and Neil Kinnock.
Brown also told the audience in Manchester he will "never do anything but support the Labour team" and will never criticise his successor publicly.
He also referred to himself as "a full-time MP", indicating he may remain in Westminster for the rest of this parliament.
Brown pledged to give rest of his life in service to "the party we love".
He thanked Harriet Harman for her leadership of the party since he stood down in May, and the thousands of Labour councillors and workers across Britain.
Brown also paid an emotional tribute to "my wife and my hero" Sarah, and his sons John and Fraser.
"To them, I am the third man," he joked.
He called Labour "a party of triers and believers" and "the only progressive party this country has".
Harman also spoke just before the results were announced.
She joked that she had not had time to set up the Harriet Harman Institute of Political Correctness in her four months as stand-in Labour leader.
She said despite the result in May the party is not defeated in spirit but is strong, with more than 30,000 new members since the election.
The Labour party's autumn conference begins in Manchester tomorrow.
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