You know things are going well at a party conference when you have to order your members to clap.
In Liverpool today, a diktat went out to applaud at the mention of welfare in Chancellor John Healey’s speech. A member of Labour’s ruling body, Abdi Duale, gave the instructions in a leaked message: ‘Chancellor is going to mention welfare in his speech, clap as hard as you can.’
Unfortunately for Duale, he sent this to a WhatsApp group which included several political journalists.
Still, Duale can relax: the hall did as it was told. Delegates dutifully cheered as Healey promised not to let the benefits bill balloon: ‘It is simply not progressive to allow a bigger and bigger benefits bill and a system which offers an income but doesn’t offer a future. So once again, as a Labour government, it falls to us to act.’
The last time it fell to Labour to act, it didn’t go terribly well. Keir Starmer’s attempt to cut disability benefits last summer prompted a mass Labour rebellion from MPs forcing the government into a humiliating climbdown. With a Budget due on 28 October, round two beckons.
Getting delegates to clap on cue is one thing. Mr S suspects the backbenches will prove rather harder to conduct.
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