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Conference

I have held this job for nearly two years. In that time we have faced a
number of challenges - financial challenges, organisational challenges,
electoral challenges.

These leadership elections have allowed us to raise our sights and look
to the future with confidence.

It has been my job over the past few weeks to ensure that we run a
contest that is open, democratic and shows that Labour is a united Party,
confident about its record and full of ideas about the future.

Thanks to the candidates we have here today, we have met these
challenges and much more.

We have run hustings events in Scotland, Wales and all over England.

Thousands and thousands of people have attended them.

We have recruited around 1,000 new members every week.

We have put our website at the heart of the contest, and have seen
nearly 1 million visits to our site.

In terms of the contest we have balloted over 3 million people, making
our elections the biggest and most democratic Party elections in British
politics.

Conference, as a Party we have had an extraordinary 13 years under Tony
Blair's leadership. These have been the most successful years in our
history.

Tony Blair announced, just over 7 weeks ago, that he would soon stop
leading this Party.

As a Party we quickly agreed a timetable for electing a new leader, but
one thing was made clear throughout: with Labour the British people come
first.

Labour's priority throughout this contest has remained the government
of this country - delivering economic stability, tackling crime, investing
in public services, delivering for the British people at the G8 and EU
summits.

That was our pledge and we have held to it.

Meanwhile, the contest continued, and after an intense few days in
Westminster, Labour MPs decided that there would be six candidates for
the Deputy Leadership.

And they overwhelmingly united behind Gordon Brown as our candidate for
Leader.

That decision to back Gordon was endorsed at over 400 local Labour
Party meetings up and down the country, where local activists attended
meetings to back Gordon for Leader.

And Gordon himself has joined the Deputy Leadership candidates at
hustings events all around the country, attended by thousands of Party members,
organised by the Party, by the unions, by our affiliated societies, by
NGOs, by the media.

This contest has seen the Labour Party reaching out again.

Asking people to join us and gaining those 1,000 members a week - six
times more than we had at this time last year.

Asking people to participate and inviting over 3 million people to have
their say.

It has been a stunning logistical operation, and I want to thank all of
my staff - and all of the staff in the trade unions and socialist
societies who have made sure everything has gone like clockwork.

I want to congratulate the candidates for Deputy Leadership, who have
campaigned on the basis of politics not personalities; with humour not
rancour; with passion not ill will.

And of course I want to congratulate Gordon, who has shown over these
past 6 weeks at event after event, that he is by a mile the best person to
take this Party and this country forwards.

He has the strength, the courage, the leadership and the vision to lead
us to a fourth election victory and I know I speak for all of the Party in
wishing Gordon well - we're looking forward to getting on with the job
of winning that election whenever it is called.

It has been an amazing few weeks for us.

And what makes it even better, it has been a terrible few weeks for
David Cameron, who dithered then caved in to the Tory Right wingers on
Grammar schools, the biggest in a long line of policy failures under his
lightweight leadership.

Things have got so bad that last Monday the Tories launched their 'save
Dave' campaign. The truth is that every time the Tories move beyond the
glib PR and on to policy it all unravels.

The contrast could not be more stark.

The scale of the nominations for Gordon Brown as leader showed to the
country a Party united in its determination not to retreat into the past,
but going forward as new Labour to address the opportunities and
challenges of the future.

As you can see today the stable and orderly transition of power is
happening.

We are looking forward to a future where Labour demonstrates that we
have the values, the policies and the experience to take Britain forwards,
led by a new leader with strength and substance.

It may be our toughest battle for a generation, but we enter it in good
heart and it is a battle we should all relish.

Conference, before I hand back to Mike Griffiths to announce the Deputy
Leadership results, I have one more duty.

It is my honour to ask you to say thank you to someone who needs no
introduction. But he's going to get one anyway.

He is the man whose passion, intellect and sheer love of this Party has
seen him active at every level - a trade unionist, a Party activist, an
MP, a front bencher and eventually our Deputy Leader.

He has been a quite brilliant Deputy Leader, our most successful ever.

He has been a tower of strength for all of us who have worked with him.

And you will know that he has been a bit under the weather recently so,
John, on behalf of the whole Party.

Thank you.

Conference, at the start of this leadership election I set myself and
our Party a simple challenge: to come out of this leadership contest
stronger than we went in to it.

I am delighted that we have delivered this.

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