What Ed Miliband can learn from David Cameron

Just over a week ago I wrote a critique of Ed Miliband's first big speech as Labour leader. I'm sure in the days since then he has invested some time in speech and presentation training - he needs to.

I would also recommend to Mr Miliband that he finds time to watch David Cameron's speech to Conservative conference this afternoon.

While both the party leaders covered a lot of ground in their speeches, Cameron's had a clear structure to it making it far easier to follow. What Cameron also did well is vary the rhythm of his delivery from stuccato to legato and back again. There were some key passages - a list of Labour's failures and a list of the Government's successes to date - that really grabbed the audience and took them along with the Prime Minister. It made great television and should be part of the speech clipped for the evening bulletins.

The delivery, confidence, humour, use of the pause and his hands was in a different class to Miliband's performance. The most striking point to take away however, was Cameron's confidence in his key message which allowed him to set out the essential differences between the Conservative and Labour Party and the visions for Britain's future.

David Cameron gave a great performance today but was helped by fantastic content and a clarity that was lacking in Ed Miliband's speech last month.