David Miliband, Foreign Secretary, spoke to Labour Party Conference on Monday 22 September.

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Let us set ourselves this test in every speech and every session of this conference: to defeat fatalism and replace it with hope.

In foreign policy, that’s hard.  A terrible bombing in Islamabad.  Iran trying to build a nuclear weapon.  Endless conflict in Sudan. Russia invading a neighbour, greenhouse gases heating up the planet, all with the global banking system under massive strain.

If you just draw a straight line from today to the future the fatalists say you will get chaos.  

But take a step back and there is another story.  A story of change that should bring pride in our party and pride in our country.   The future is not fated. Chaos is not inevitable. The forces of disorder can be turned back.

Last December Kenya faced civil war.   Children were beaten to death and women herded into churches which were then raised to the ground. Today Kenya has a democratically elected government. And we should be proud that the Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, told me it could not have happened without Britain.
 
In May, the world agreed a new ban on cluster munitions which mame and kill long after a conflict is over. The skilful last ditch intervention of one man broke the deadlock: our Leader made the difference, Gordon Brown.

I have visited our troops, aid workers and diplomats in Afghanistan.  Also in Baghdad and Basra.  

Talk to Afghans and they want what we want: a decent future free from fear.     But they need young British men and women to go out each day, driving the route where their friends have been attacked and killed, to make that future possible.  See them, imagine the world they face and then feel lasting pride in the British people and the Armed Forces our nation has produced.

Let us be proud too of something that is not a matter of life and death. For the next four years the eyes of the world will be turning to our capital city, the greatest capital city in the world, the host of the 2012 Olympic Games.

In 1996 1 gold.  In 2008 19 plus 42 in the paralympics.  In 1996 £52 million spent on sport.  In 2008 £412 million invested.  Take most pride in the athletes, their coaches, their parents and helpers.  But allow yourself a little pride that it happened under this Labour Government.

Then the handover ceremony.  Mayor Boris Johnson. Let’s resolve today: the Labour government that brought the Olympics to Britain will be the Labour Government that hosts it.

Fatalism or hope?  The difference is our confidence in our values, and our ability to apply them in radical new ways, not just at home but on the world stage too.   

This is our claim: that if you want order and stability in the relations between people and nations you need to put into practice progressive values.
 
Our party was created to fight for democracy and equal rights in our own country. We know we have further to go.  

But if we want to protect ourselves from terrorism at home, we need to defend and advance democracy and human rights abroad.  Because a world order with authoritarian governments, oppressing their own people and threatening others, is a source of instability.

That is why we are in Afghanistan.  It’s tempting to say we should just focus on pursuing the terrorists.  We need to.  But the alternative to democratic government in Afghanistan is Taleban government and a safe home for al qaeda.

It is why today, of all days, we are resolute in our support for Pakistan’s new civilian government.  We mourn with the people of Pakistan their terrible loss in Sunday’s bomb blast.    We reach out to Britain’s Pakistani community, including in this city.  And I know that you will share my resolve when I said to President Zadari yesterday that we will stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Pakistan in the face of such evil.
 
It is why we defend the rights of the Georgian people to choose their own government, not have it decided in the Kremlin.

It is why I will never forget the Zimbabwean refugees huddled at the Johannesburg Methodist Church, shellshocked by violence that had claimed the lives of their husbands, wives, children…and why we will be resolute in supporting the people of Zimbabwe in their determination to end the one party rule of Robert Mugabe.

And it is why we know that there is nothing more fundamental to peace in the world than a secure Israel alongside a Palestinian state.   For years we have advocated a two state solution.  But unless it is delivered it will become impossible.   And that is why we need Europe and Russia to take forward the work begun this year with a new US administration, starting on Day One.

People want to live in a democracy.  But they also want a job, a home, and an income they can live on.   That needs our values too.

We believe it is our job to close the gap between rich and poor.  Poverty matters. So does inequality. Nowhere more so than on the international stage.  

Global inequality is not just about aid.  We need a trade deal.  We need conflict prevention.  We need good governance.  And we need a fair deal on the supreme test of the 21st century: climate change.  This is the time, as we see the effects of high oil prices, for energy efficiency, for renewables, for nuclear power and for a global deal in which all countries fulfil their responsibilities.

But it is obscene that in a world of untold plenty millions are without food and clean water.  That is why we have trebled the budget for Africa. Around the world 30 million more children get an education and every year three million people are lifted out of poverty.  

That is the difference that our country can make.  And that is the difference our Leader Gordon Brown makes. He has transformed the debate about international development in Britain.

Promoting democracy and human rights.  Tackling inequality.  These are our values.  And so is our commitment to shared responsibility.

The founders of our party came together in cooperatives and trade unions because they knew that shared problems in their communities needed shared solutions.  The same is true now but on a global scale.
 

Not global government but a UN that reflects the world of 2015 not 1945.  Global rules, from nuclear proliferation to economic stability, that tackle modern risks. A transatlantic Alliance that gets over its difference over the Iraq war and is strong and united. And the European Union, a powerful voice in the world.

The EU does involve sharing sovereignty.  Not on tax or defence but in important areas.  David Cameron wants to pull back.

Tell me this Mr Cameron.  How would you get Europe to lead the world on climate change when you promise your first act is to renegotiate a Tory opt out on the Social Chapter?

How can you complain about the European response to Russia if you don’t support a common energy policy?

And how on earth can you lead in meeting the world’s challenges by distance from our strongest ally America and isolation from our nearest allies in Europe?

The truth is: you can’t and you won’t.

We have been here before.

In 1997 the Tories weren’t leading the world they were ignored by it.

In 1997 the Tories were not increasing aid they were cutting it.

And we should never, ever, forget that in 1997 the Tories were not banning landmines and cluster munitions, they were busy making them.

Now is not the time to turn back. Now is the time to be out there, engaged, arguing for our values, putting them into practice.

You know, the truth is these Tories are beatable. Let’s say it with conviction; they are beatable.

So just as I hate defeatism about our country, I hate defeatism about our party.

Government is tough.  You have to prove yourself every day.  But the toughest day in government is better than the easiest day in opposition.  Not just for us, but more important for the people we represent.
 
When I look back over 11 years in Government, I feel pride in what we have done but also excitement at what we can do and will do.

We know what we believe, so let’s go out and argue for it.  

That everyone should have a fair chance and those who succeed should help others.  That unless government is on your side you end up on your own. That the fair society is a necessity not a strapline.  And that an age of massive change needs leadership from the party of change.

Take pride not in what we have finished but what we have started.

Every day in government is a privilege for our party.  Each day in government is an opportunity to change the country.  

Together, let us earn the privilege, seize the opportunity, and prove the fatalists wrong.