Progressive leaders meet – shame about 'Nazi' logo

David Miliband called on the Government last night to admit its failings and show more conviction to win back voters who have deserted Labour.

The Foreign Secretary's candid assessment, which echoed concerns expressed by Labour backbenchers, came at a gathering of centre-left leaders from around the world. The "progressive governance" conference on globalisation is being hosted for the first time by Gordon Brown, who rushed back to Britain from the Nato summit in Bucharest. The movement was launched by Bill Clinton and became closely associated with Tony Blair's "third way" philosophy.

Mr Brown won plaudits from his guests for his record on aid to Africa but there was an embarrassing hiccup before his arrival: the logo for today's summit of world leaders bore an uncanny resemblance to a Nazi swastika. Downing Street removed the logo from its website and ordered the designers to come up with a new one. "It would be totally wrong to read anything sinister into the intentions of the designers," said a No 10 spokeswoman.

Mr Brown was never a great fan of the "third way" but it was defended by Mr Miliband, a youthful veteran of such gatherings as he was formerly Mr Blair's head of policy.

Mr Miliband told last night's conference dinner at The Grove hotel, near Watford: "If we are honest about the shortcomings of our record in office, people will give us a second hearing and recognise the successes." He added: "Over the last decade, people have enjoyed more personal wealth and freedom, but they are more insecure – about crime, migration, terrorism and climate change and people have less faith in traditional government solutions to address these collective problems. The answer is not pragmatism but conviction."

Mr Miliband said Labour should combine two traditions of progressive thought – social democrats' belief in fairness through state action with radical liberal plans to shift power closer to people.

He insisted Labour's values were relevant but said the dangers were "disconnection, staleness, pragmatism over conviction." Centre-left losses in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands showed the mantle of reform could be stolen by other parties, he warned.

At yesterday's conference, staged by the Policy Network think-tank, Mr Brown shared a platform with Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister of Australia; President Michelle Bachelet of Chile and Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Mr Brown was "optimistic" about the future of the centre-left but conceded that Labour needed to "update our domestic agenda" and forge a new international agenda. "The global institutions we have cannot meet the challenge of our times." He said they should be reshaped in line with progressive values.

Also attending are Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa; Alfred Gusenbauer, the Austrian Chancellor; Dimitris Christofias, President of Cyprus; John Kufuor, President of Ghana; Romano Prodi, the Italian Prime Minister; Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia; Gediminas Kirkilas, Prime Minister of Lithuania; Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway and Robert Fico, Prime Minister of Slovakia. They were joined by 300 international opinion-formers, policymakers, government advisers and experts.

Peter Mandelson, theEuropean Trade Commissioner, said the public was sceptical about globalisation, even though its benefits were clear. "This general atmosphere is compounded by a financial markets crisis, a probable recession in the US and the unpleasant spectacle of some in our societies enjoying large pay-offs for failure while others can't make the payments on their homes. That makes an intelligent assessment of the conditions for successful globalisation vital. But this is also the moment when politics risks shrugging off such an effort in favour of populism, protectionism, isolationism."

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