Life after Brown: Miliband sets out his new vision for old Labour

As activists arrive in Manchester for the annual gathering, the new Opposition leader will set out his vision for taking on the Tory-Lib Dem Government in a high-profile television interview.

He wasted no time in attacking the Government, pledging at his first party event last night to work "every hour of every day" to remove David Cameron from Downing Street.

And as the Tories quickly seized on his reliance on trade union votes to secure the leadership as evidence of a shift to the left, he used a newspaper article to say he was "on the side of the squeezed middle".

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he conceded that Labour had "a lot of ground to make up" and faced a "long journey" to get back into government but said he approached the challenge with "relish".

He said he would ensure the party recognised its mistakes - over issues such as housing, immigration, student fees and the Iraq war, acted as a responsible opposition and presented a "constructive" alternative.

"We need to accept the mistakes we made in these areas and show that we have changed. We must never again lose touch with the mainstream of our country," he said.

Labour would "not oppose every cut" to be put forward in the Coalition's radical deficit reduction plans next month, recognising that in some areas "public services will now need to learn to do more with less", he said.

"But, that does not mean simply swallowing the programme of cuts the Government is setting out.

"It is not just that too often they penalise people who had no hand in causing the crisis, while protecting those that did. It is also that the wrong cuts at the wrong time will put recovery at risk," he went on.

Mr Miliband said he would work with the Government where there was agreement - pointing to prison policy, tuition fees and Afghanistan as potential areas of co-operation.

"My aim is to show that our party is on the side of the squeezed middle in our country and everyone who has worked hard and wants to get on," he concluded.

"My aim is to return our party to power. This is a tough challenge. It is a long journey. But our party has made the first step in electing a leader from a new generation.

"It is now down to me to make the change happen. That is a challenge I relish."

The race to succeed Gordon Brown was won by the narrowest of margins yesterday, with just 1.3% separating the two brothers as Ed secured 50.65% of the vote to David's 49.35%.

Older brother David won the support of a majority of Labour's MPs at Westminster and grassroots activists, but crashed to defeat due to Ed's dominance among the trade unions.

Defeated rivals pledged to unite around his leadership, his brother insisting there was a "strong mood" in the party to rally behind the "new agenda".

But Tory chairman Baroness Warsi said it was "a great leap backwards for the Labour Party".

"Ed Miliband wasn't the choice of his MPs, wasn't the choice of Labour Party members but was put in to power by union votes," she said.

Mr Miliband, at 40 Labour's youngest ever leader, will deliver his keynote speech to conference on Tuesday but is not expected to play any formal role in today's opening proceedings.

Among the initial business of the conference is the formal start of elections to Mr Miliband's shadow cabinet, with MPs able from today to officially put themselves forward to party whips as candidates.

So far 43 have publicly confirmed they intend to contest the 19 available places in the October 7 vote but attention is focused on the future of the older Miliband brother.

Amid speculation that he would be offered the job of shadowing Chancellor George Osborne if elected to the top team, he declined to discuss his plans as he put a brave face on defeat, insisting it was "Ed's day".

"I'm moved and honoured by your support and proud of the campaign we ran together. I now passionately want Ed to have a united party behind him," the shadow foreign secretary said in a message to supporters.

Mr Cameron gave the new leader his personal congratulations in a three-minute telephone call in which he warned Mr Miliband of the pressures of the job on family life.

Mr Miliband's partner, barrister Justine Thornton, who is expecting their second child in November, was in the hall to hear him named leader and hail her "incredible love and support".

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes offered his congratulations, but warned Labour's new leader that his party "can no longer remain head-in-the-sand deficit-deniers".

A post-mortem of the general election - which Mr Miliband conceded Labour "lost badly" - will be delivered to the conference today by Douglas Alexander, who co-ordinated the campaign.

Other opening day business includes a speech by the party's general secretary Ray Collins and a debate about renewing party democracy.

Next page: How the voting went This is how voting in the Labour leadership contest unfolded.

Under the complex electoral college system employed by the party, voting power is divided equally between three sections: MPs and MEPs, ordinary party members and affiliated organisations including trade unions.

After each round, the last-placed candidate was eliminated and the second preferences of their backers redistributed until one hopeful - Ed Miliband - secured more than 50%.

The scores are listed here by percentage share of overall votes and how that was made up within each section in terms of votes and percentages (in the order MPs and MEPs/party members/affiliated organisations):

First round:

Diane Abbott 7.42% (7 - 0.877%, 9,314 - 2.447%, 25,938 - 4.093%)

Ed Balls 11.79% (40 - 5.013%, 12,831 - 3.371%, 21,618 - 3.411%)

Andy Burnham 8.68% (24 - 3.008%, 10,844 - 2.849%, 17,904 - 2.825%)

David Miliband 37.78% (111 - 13.910%, 55,905 - 14.688%, 58,189 - 9.182%)

Ed Miliband 34.33% (84 - 10.526%, 37,980 - 9.978%, 87,585 - 13.821%)

As no-one exceeded 50%, Diane Abbott was eliminated and her second preferences redistributed.

Second round:

Ed Balls 13.23% (41 - 5.177%, 14,510 - 3.829%, 26,441 - 4.224%)

Andy Burnham 10.41% (24 - 3.03%, 12,498 - 3.298%, 25,528 - 4.078%)

David Miliband 38.89% (111 - 14.015%, 57,128 - 15.076%, 61,336 - 9.799%)

Ed Miliband 37.47% (88 - 11.111%, 42,176 - 11.13%, 95,335 - 15.231%)

As no-one exceeded 50%, Andy Burnham was eliminated and his second preferences redistributed.

Third round:

Ed Balls 16.02% (43 - 5.429%, 18,114 - 4.823%, 35,512 - 5.766%)

David Miliband 42.72% (125 - 15.783%, 60,375 - 16.076%, 66,889 - 10.861%)

Ed Miliband 41.26% (96 - 12.121%, 46,697 - 12.434%, 102,882 - 16.706%)

As no-one exceeded 50%, Ed Balls was eliminated and his second preferences redistributed.

Fourth round:

David Miliband 49.35% (140 - 17.812%, 66,814 - 18.135%, 80,266 - 13.40%)

Ed Miliband 50.65% (122 - 15.522%, 55,992 - 15.198%, 119,405 - 19.934%)

As he exceeded the 50% threshold, Ed Miliband was elected leader.

The total margin of victory in votes for Ed Miliband over his brother was 175,519 to 147,220.