Blunkett offers words of advice as new leader starts to rebuild

Mr Blunkett urged Ed Miliband – whom he was due to meet last night – not to chase "tribal" votes at the expense of "Metropolitan England", and said the close nature of his victory over brother David meant he had to "reach out" to those who did not support him.

He also said that while David Cameron had three years to come to terms with being Tory leader, Ed "has got to do it faster" although he admitted "we've got to give him a little time in which to be able to do it".

Former Home Secretary Mr Blunkett also backed David Miliband to stand again for the Shadow Cabinet amid continuing uncertainty over his future after the Shadow Foreign Secretary's devastating narrow defeat to his brother, MP for Doncaster North, on Saturday.

Making his first appearance on the conference stage in Manchester yesterday, David won widespread praise and a warm ovation as he pleaded with Labour not to turn the leadership struggle into the kind of "soap opera" that disfigured the Blair and Brown era.

He again refused to commit to serving on Labour's top team – a decision he must make by tomorrow when nominations for the Shadow Cabinet elections close – but thanked delegates for their expressions of sympathy and joked that the short notice for yesterday's speech had not been a problem because he already had some unused drafts lying around.

But Mr Miliband made clear he had no intention of being a thorn in the side of the new leadership despite his obvious disappointment, saying he had gone into the contest "reconciled to the prospect" he might lose. He hailed Ed as a "great new leader" and said: "I am really, really, really proud. I am so proud of my campaign. I am so proud of my party. But above all I am incredibly proud of my brother."

Referring to the Blair-Brown conflict that constantly threatened to tear the party apart during its 13 years in power, he insisted: "No more cliques, no more factions, no more soap opera – one united Labour Party taking on a divided Government."

The brothers, who were earlier seen chatting privately at a cafe in the conference centre, embraced after the address, although when they came off stage David reportedly needed to comfort his wife Louise, who was in floods of tears.

Mr Blunkett had backed Andy Burnham for the leadership but gave David his second preference and criticised Ed during the campaign when he urged activists to back David out of the two brothers.

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post last night, he said of the older brother: "I want him to stand and play a significant role but I would entirely understand if he felt this was too hurtful and above all too difficult for his brother. Only he can make that decision."

He was meeting Ed last night to offer "comradely advice" and – as the new leader seeks to dismiss claims he will lurch to the left – said the party must continue appealing to aspiring middle classes as well as core voters.

"The answer is to be in tune with the feelings, the worries, the aspirations of people who are marginal in terms of which way they jump," he said. "They have no long-term inherent loyalties, they're not tribal...and therefore you've got to win them on a day-to-day basis on things that matter to them and not get diverted by the things that matter to the dedicated activists whose voice has to be heard – because they're the ones who need motivating to go on the doorstep but it won't necessarily be the thing that's uppermost in their minds that's uppermost in the minds of the marginal voters."

Mr Blunkett said former Energy Secretary Ed's Yorkshire constituency will help influence his plans to overcome a "catastrophic" collapse in the vote in the region at the general election.

"Because the vote was so close I think there will be no doubt in Ed's mind that he has to demonstrably reach out to people who weren't entirely sure and therefore didn't actually vote for him," he said. "I don't have any doubts about that – because I know one or two of the people who are close to him – that he understands that imperative and I'm prepared, as others are, to reciprocate."

He also warned that arguments over Old Labour and New Labour were "missing the point", saying: "We've got to have no bottom lines, we've got to say to people this is a new beginning but it's a new beginning learning from the past and open to new ideas for the future."