Labour party

Wednesday

Steerpike

Solidarity for Venezuela at Labour conference

From our UK edition

Recent reports on the situation in the socialist haven of Venezuela suggest that not everything is so tickety-boo. With five-hour queues for toilet paper, the prospect of forced labour looming and a mass food shortage, Mercosur -- the South American trade bloc -- has threatened to expel the country over human rights violations and not complying with trade laws. Despite this, the Labour party continues to show solidarity with the country. Last night, comrades gathered at conference for Cuba and Venezuela: International Solidarity Needed Now More Than Ever!.

Steerpike

G4S makes a comeback at Labour conference

From our UK edition

There was a time when it looked as though this year's Labour conference might not go ahead as they struggled to find a company to provide security at the event. The party's usual supplier G4S had been deemed unsuitable after the NEC made a decision to boycott them over its prison contracts and links to Israel. By the time Labour came crawling back to the company to ask for their help, after running short of suitable options, G4S declined -- and they opted for OCS. So, conference regulars have been surprised to see a lot of familiar faces from previous years manning the doors at the event. It turns out that around a quarter of OCS's work force at the event also work for... G4S. And the reason they can work for both companies? They are on zero hours contracts.

Tom Goodenough

Labour conference, day four: The Spectator guide

From our UK edition

Jeremy Corbyn’s conference speech will be the highlight - or lowlight (depending on your perspective) - of the day as the curtain comes down at Labour’s annual conference. The party has largely managed to put on a brave face and display of unity during its annual gathering. But there is still time for that facade to all come crashing down as Corbyn closes the conference. Here’s what on today: Main conference: 9am: Policy seminars 2.15pm: Jeremy Corbyn gives his keynote speech Fringe events: 9am: Labour women’s network - what next for women in the party, politics and public space? Labour women’s network 12.30pm: Securing the future: what will reverse the rise on child poverty?

Tuesday

Steerpike

Is Seumas Milne about to be shown the back door?

From our UK edition

Oh dear. It's not been a great conference for Seumas Milne. Jeremy Corbyn's director of comms managed to make himself the story this week after he altered Clive Lewis's speech on Trident at the last minute. The shadow Defence Secretary was said to be so angry over the changes that he punched a wall after the speech. So, Mr S was curious to hear a rumour swirling around Labour conference this evening. The talk of conference is that Milne's departure is imminent with suggestions his last day could be as soon as Friday. While sources close to Milne insist to Mr S that this is not the case, several party insiders are adamant he is on the way out within the next month.

Rod Liddle

Labour is dying. Time to move on

From our UK edition

Still enveloped in their bubble of iridescent adolescent phlegm, the Labour Party now stands at 26 per cent in the latest opinion polls. Below the figure achieved under Michael Foot’s leadership in the 1983 general election, usually regarded as the lowest of all low points for the party. And Foot was battling against a Prime Minister who had just won a very popular war, as well as against a credible new party, the SDP. Labour do not know how much trouble they are in, even now. It is very difficult to see a way out for the sensible or fairly sensible Labour members, especially the MPs. Pray that Corbyn fails while desperately holding on to their seats. They don’t need to pray for that, but many will not hold on to their seats. They should surely get the hell out.

Tom Goodenough

Labour moderates find a glimmer of conference hope

From our UK edition

Labour’s conference has just waved through a raft of reforms which look set to tip the balance of power on the party’s National Executive Committee away from Jeremy Corbyn and towards the moderates. The wording of the changes which caused the trouble is pretty banal: that the leader of the Scottish and Welsh Labour parties will be able to pick someone to sit on the NEC. But while this might sound like a piecemeal change, make no mistake: this is a blow to Corbyn. The change means that Kezia Dugdale or Carwyn Jones can now either take up their seats, or pick someone else to sit on the NEC (Dugdale has said she'll take up the seat herself). This goes against what Corbyn supporters proposed, which was for members to get the chance to choose.

Katy Balls

Watch: Tom Watson defends New Labour’s record in barnstorming speech

From our UK edition

Down-hearted moderates at this year's Labour conference have received a much-needed boost this afternoon from the party's Deputy Leader. Tom Watson gave a barnstorming speech to congregates as he defended Labour's record in government and vowed to take the fight to the Tories in the next general election. After months of navel-gazing in the Labour leadership race, Watson turned his ire on the opposition. He described Theresa May as a Lib Dem manifesto pledge -- 'abandoned' -- as he accused her of 'ducking and diving; humming and hahing' on everything from the Northern powerhouse to the Single Market.

Tom Goodenough

Sadiq Khan’s power ballad to Jeremy Corbyn

From our UK edition

Sadiq Khan’s speech to Labour conference just now could be summed up in a single word: power. He repeated it so much - 38 times in total - you’d be forgiven for thinking he could do with a thesaurus. But there was nothing accidental about him banging on about power. This was a clear dig at Jeremy Corbyn. Khan’s big idea isn’t real that big at all. He told his party that Labour out of power ‘will never, ever be good enough’, while his finishing plea was that: 'It’s time to put Labour back into power, it’s time for a Labour Government. A Labour Prime Minister in Downing Street.

The Spectator

Full speech: Sadiq Khan at Labour conference

From our UK edition

Labour in power. Not just talking the talk, but walking the walk too. Never sacrificing or selling out on our ideals, but putting them in action every single day. Not a revolution overnight, but real and meaningful change that makes life easier for the people who need it most. Conference, after the election this summer the leadership of our party has now been decided and I congratulate Jeremy on his clear victory. Now it’s time for us all to work together towards the greatest prize: getting Labour back into power. Conference, with Labour in power your home and your commute get more affordable, the air you breathe gets less polluted, you get better pay and conditions at work, our businesses are supported to grow, and new jobs are created.

Fraser Nelson

Parliamentarians vs Corbynistas – two tribes at war in the Labour Party conference

From our UK edition

Quite extraordinary scenes here at the Labour Party conference. I’m typing this in the main conference hall and have just watched Mike Katz of the Jewish Labour Movement give a short speech against anti-Semitism. This ought to be utterly uncontroversial, but it has become a wedge issue between the two tribes who now make up the Labour Party. Between those who were members before May 2015, and those who joined after. There have two very different outlooks, and are at war with each other. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msl8Hm0GZp0 Katz’s speech was cheered effusively, like a rallying call, by about a third of the hall. And, amazingly, heckled by other members.

Tom Goodenough

Labour conference, day three: The Spectator guide

From our UK edition

Tom Watson, Labour's deputy leader, and Sadiq Khan, the Labour politician with the largest mandate to his name, both take to the stage today on the third day of Labour's conference in Liverpool. Watson described the leadership contest as a 'very bruising summer' for the party and insisted the focus now was on 'rebuilding trust' among voters after Corbyn was re-elected leader on Saturday. He's likely to make a similar pitch in his keynote speech today. While Khan will tell the Labour conference (in a veiled dig at Corbyn) that the party can only make a difference if it manages to win power. Elsewhere, Corbyn's defeated rival in the leadership race Owen Smith is scheduled to make an appearance in a fringe event at 12.30pm.

Monday

Steerpike

Watch: John McDonnell’s disastrous Newsnight interview

From our UK edition

It's been a long day for John McDonnell. On top of making his conference speech, the Shadow Chancellor has spoken at fringe events and given several interviews. So, perhaps that's why his appearance on Monday's Newsnight didn't go quite to plan. In the interview with Evan Davis, McDonnell failed to shine as he put forward a rather confused vision for his party. Although he insisted that Labour were ready to govern, he also admitted that the party was not in a position to share its policy on tax -- instead saying it should remain 'roughly the same as it is' -- immigration or Trident.

Steerpike

Falkland Islands’ pitch to Jeremy Corbyn falls on deaf ears

From our UK edition

In a crowded field, one of Jeremy Corbyn’s more controversial suggestions during his time as Labour leader has been putting forward the idea of a ‘power sharing deal’ with Argentina over the Falkland Islands. That plan was called a ‘repugnant surrender’ by war hero Simon Weston, while Michael Fallon said Corbyn posed a bigger threat to the Falklands than the Argentine navy. Yet that hasn’t put off the Falkland Islands Government from turning up at Labour’s party conference this year with a stall. Alas, it seems, the Falkland Island Government’s hopes of speaking to Corbyn have so far fallen on deaf ears.

Tom Goodenough

John McDonnell sends taxpayers running for the hills

From our UK edition

John McDonnell’s speech was a chance to win over voters. But while his pitch went down well in the hall and was greeted by raptures of wild applause from (some of) the party faithful, there was little on offer to entice those on the fence to come over to Labour. If anything, this looked to be business as usual for a party that voters just don’t trust on the economy (the latest YouGov poll puts Labour nine points behind the Tories). McDonnell talked about sharing the burden, investing and ‘calling a halt to austerity'. He said: ‘We will rewrite the rules to the benefit of working people on taxes, investment and how our economic institutions work.’ So what does this rewriting of the rules actually mean?

Isabel Hardman

Labour members’ stand-off with MPs shows things can only get more bitter

From our UK edition

Jeremy Corbyn might have wanted to wipe the slate clean and start over with his MPs after the summer’s leadership contest. But the mood on the Labour conference fringe shows that this is going to be extremely difficult in practice, even if the Labour leader does everything that his MPs ask of him (which he won’t). Many members are furious with the MPs for orchestrating a coup against their leader and forcing a leadership contest; many MPs are utterly defiant about the importance of said coup, even though it failed, and aren’t prepared to fall meekly behind the leader, no matter how much members tell them to.

Katy Balls

Corbyn’s team clash over Trident

From our UK edition

Today Clive Lewis, the shadow Defence Secretary, used his conference speech to say that Labour has a clear policy in favour of renewing Trident and would sign up to the Nato target of spending 2pc on defence. While this is Labour policy, given that Lewis is viewed by many as a fully signed-up Corbynite there had been an expectation that he would take on an anti-Trident stance. Following his comments, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament issued a press release expressing their 'huge disappointment at this U-turn'. Now it's transpired that Lewis had meant to go further. The talk of conference is that Lewis had planned to say he would not try to change party policy on Trident renewal. However, at the last minute, Corbyn's director of comms Seumas Milne took this out without consulting Lewis.

Isabel Hardman

Labour must hold the Tories to account on Brexit

From our UK edition

John McDonnell is now speaking at the Labour conference, and will pledge to match the regional funding that communities will lose as a result of Brexit. This has been billed as 'one of the Labour Party's biggest policy statements since the Brexit vote', which is another way of saying 'one of the Labour Party's only policy statements since the Brexit vote'. The turmoil in the party since that vote and its dismal performance in the polls (which, despite urban legend, was the case before the attempted coup against Corbyn) means that it's largely pointless to evaluate this policy statement as though it might actually happen. Labour isn't going to be in government any time soon. But what Labour can do right now is hold the Tories to account on Brexit.

Tom Goodenough

Coffee House Shots: Labour conference’s uneasy peace

From our UK edition

Labour's conference is well underway but the mood so far is far from lively. Rather than rallying around their newly re-elected leader, for many who have gathered at the party's annual conference the atmosphere is somewhat gloomy. So whilst Jeremy Corbyn promised to 'wipe the slate clean' following his re-election, can the Labour party learn to forgive and forget? Isabel Hardman says on this Coffee House Shots episode that so far an uneasy peace is prevailing. But only just...: 'I was sort of expecting it to be this bitter bunfight where people were shouting at each other and that hasn't happened so far. But we've only had one night where people have all been drinking together and already people are starting to criticise the Labour leader.

Tom Goodenough

John McDonnell’s fight against capitalism steps up a gear

From our UK edition

With Labour’s bloody leadership contest behind them, John McDonnell wants to get back to business. This is a man who lists 'fermenting the overthrow of capitalism' as his pastime on Who's Who. Now he is the Labour Party's shadow chancellor. So with the renewed Corbynista mandate, what now? Having picked the brains of Ed Miliband and others, he says a Labour government would be defined by its willingness to step in - but only gently - to help out business. For McDonnell, that plan to intervene would take the form of a mammoth spending scheme backed by a national investment bank pumped with £100bn.

Katy Balls

Labour’s anti-Semitism problem compared to ‘an over-whipped soufflé’

From our UK edition

Although reports and actions in the past year have suggested that Corbyn's Labour might just have a problem when it comes to Jews, some Labour members beg to differ. At Momentum's World Transformed festival in Liverpool, a panel made up of Rhea Wolfson, Jackie Walker, Jonathan Rosenhead and Jeremy Newmark came together to ask: Does Labour have an anti-Semitism Problem? Attendees were gifted leaflets, on their way into the workshop, that called for the Jewish Labour Movement -- which has 'used the charge of widespread anti-Semitism in the Labour party to attack the new movement' -- to be expelled from Labour. This sentiment was a common theme throughout the session.