Labour conference star Gareth: ‘I was impressed with Ed Miliband’

A stroll on Hampstead Heath appears to have inspired Ed Miliband’s conference speech as he quoted from chance conversations in the park with software worker Gareth, chef Xiomara and two students who wished he was the actor Benedict Cumberbatch.

The Labour leader attempted to liven up his speech by recounting a string of meetings with voters, many of whom were conveniently frustrated with the way society is working in Britain.

In the course of his 60-minute speech, Miliband mentioned at least seven conversations with passers-by, including Rosie, a doctor from Devon, Colin, who was seriously ill in hospital, Elizabeth, an auto-electrician, and Josephine, a cleaner, prompting speculation about whether they had all actually taken place.

It quickly emerged that they were genuine, after Gareth Edwards, a former Liberal Democrat supporter who is now considering switching to Labour, confirmed he was the person mentioned twice in the speech.

In his last conference address before the election, Miliband said: “Gareth is high up at a software company. He’s got a five-year-old daughter, he’s earning a decent wage, he can’t afford to buy a home for himself and for his family, he’s priced out by the richest. He thinks that unless you’re one of the privileged few in Britain, the country is not going to work for you and your kids are going to have a worse life than you.”

The 36-year-old told the Guardian how he spotted the leader of the opposition on a park bench as Miliband took a break from meetings near his north London home. Edwards, who was on his way home from a work picnic on Hampstead Heath, did not know it would lead to his becoming one of the main focuses of Miliband’s speech and in #Gareth trending on Twitter as journalists tried to track him down.

“He was very interested and sincere and engaged in our conversation … he was genuinely interested rather than trying to preach to me or push his agenda or anything. I was impressed,” he said.

“I used to be a member of the Lib Dems but the recent direction means it does not have the resonance it used to, so I think, of the current batch of party leaders, Ed is the person I would be most in sympathy with.”

A Cambridge graduate who works for London software company Softwire, Edwards said the first time he realised his impromptu chat might feature in Miliband’s speech was about a week ago when a Labour adviser rang and asked him if it would be OK.

“He wanted to fact check and make sure it was OK if he mentioned me in the speech. That all sounded reasonable enough although I didn’t expect to be mentioned as much as I was.”

Beatrice Bazell, a postgraduate student at Birkbeck, University of London, and her friend Helen Goodman, were also quoted by the Labour leader after approaching him on Hampstead Heath as they were on their way to have a swim.

Miliband recounted how he had met two students from a top university in London recently and one of them said her generation was “falling into a black hole”. He joked that they had wanted to meet Cumberbatch but ended up with him.

Bazell outed herself as one of the “Cumberbatch-fanciers” on Twitter and reluctantly recalled using the “black hole” phrase. Goodman also confirmed the conversation took place, saying she was “really pleasantly surprised, having been sceptical. He seemed very well informed and genuinely interested in my concerns.”

A Twitter user called Xiomara Torero has posted pictures of a meeting with Miliband on the heath, saying there was more she wished she had said to him.

She later published a picture of a handwritten note from Miliband that he left for her at the restaurant where she worked. Torero wrote: “Sorry I was off, it’s going to take more to change my vote though :).”