PERHAPS it was the effects of a frantic end to a very long referendum campaign but Ed Miliband's start to his eight-month job interview with the British public was rather underwhelming.

The last conference set-piece before May's General Election was serious and softly spoken for the most part but hardly inspirational. His theme was - not surprising on the back of the referendum campaign - how Britain was not only better together but greater together. Indeed, the t-word featured dozens of times.

With David Cameron best riding the world stage Mr Miliband needed a wider perspective than normal to his speech and did indeed touch on Middle East extremism but gave no view on the hot topic - airstrikes on Syria and Iraq.

While the Labour leader stressed building more homes to enable the young to get on the property ladder and helping the low-paid through a promised hike in the minimum wage, he failed to focus on the economy, not mentioning the deficit once. Given, the party is, according to one recent poll, a whopping 25 points behind the Tories on the economy, this might be regarded as something of an oversight.

One of his most effective points covered the referendum. With David Cameron now campaigning on English votes for English laws, Mr Miliband said far from helping to unite the country, the Prime Minister was now seeking to divide it with a political tactic aimed at undermining Labour.

The party leader's most effective passage came when he alighted on what will be a key election battleground: the NHS. Announcing extra funding, he roused applause by explaining how this would come not from more borrowing or raising taxes on ordinary folk but from taxing millionaires who own mansions, the tobacco firms and tax-avoiding hedge funds.

The problem for Mr Miliband is many people appear to have made up their minds about his potential as premier a long time ago and it seems he has yet been able to change them.