Labour party

Tuesday

Steerpike

Jess Phillips takes on George Galloway over Brighton beach incident: ‘he does struggle with women’s voices’

Although Labour conference has so far been a rather tame affair, Jess Phillips can at least be relied upon to spice up proceedings. The outspoken Labour MP is developing a reputation for being a bit of a rebel after she made the news earlier this month for telling Diane Abbott to 'f--- off'. Now she has a new target in her sights. Phillips says that she confronted George Galloway, who was expelled from the Labour party in 2003, on the beach in Brighton yesterday. She says she decided to tell Galloway -- who was previously criticised by anti-rape campaigners for comments suggesting sexual assault charges facing Julian Assange were nothing more than 'bad sexual etiquette' -- that he was a 'rape apologist': https://twitter.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Labour conference is surprisingly even-tempered. Why?

Why does Labour conference feel so even-tempered so far? In previous years the answer would be that it has been stage-managed to the hilt and all frontbenchers programmed with the lines to take. But this year the party’s conference strapline is ‘Straight talking. Honest politics’ and frontbenchers aren’t being sent daily lines to take, so even if they wanted to be on message, they couldn’t be. Of course, those frontbenchers are enjoying telling fringes that they take one view while their leader takes another, but what’s still remarkable about this conference is how good natured all the fringe meetings have been after a vicious leadership contest. Those running were abused endlessly online, as were activists who dared stray from the Corbyn line.

Sebastian Payne

Dan Jarvis’s only conference appearance is pleasant, but devoid of policy detail

In Brighton, eyes are on two rising stars who are tipped to replace Jeremy Corbyn. The first is Keir Starmer, the former Director of Public Prosecutions, who is popping up at several fringe events about the future of the party. The second is Dan Jarvis, the former shadow justice minister, who made his only appearance at a Huffington Post fringe event this afternoon. Jarvis revealed that running for the Labour leadership this time around was ‘never on the table’ and Jeremy Corbyn did not offer him a job (contrary to previous reports) in his shadow cabinet — even though he turned it down. Just like the other moderates who have spoken at this conference, the MP for Barnsley Central said he could still ably serve his party from the back benches.

Steerpike

John McDonnell makes peace with Peter Mandelson

Yesterday Michael Meacher wrote on his personal blog that it was time to expel Lord Mandelson from Labour. His sin? Badmouthing Jeremy Corbyn. Meacher, who is one of Corbyn's key backers, claims that Mandelson should be punished for speaking ill of Corbyn. So who better to fight Meacher's corner than John McDonnell? The shadow chancellor, who previously described Mandy'possibly the most divisive figure in Labour's recent history', bumped in to Mandelson this afternoon at Tory conference. However rather than scrap, Channel 4's Michael Crick claims that McDonnell assured Mandy he would not be expelled from Labour: https://twitter.

Sebastian Payne

Watch: Tristram Hunt and Ian Lavery shows who is up and down in Labour

As the first day of Labour’s conference came to a close, LabourList hosted a ‘winning again’ rally in a dark corner of the Grand Hotel. A bunch of Labour speakers, including Eddie Izzard and Owen Jones, spoke about the party’s general election defeat and the glorious rise of Jeremy Corbyn. The two most contrasting speakers were Tristram Hunt, the former shadow education secretary, and Ian Lavery, the former NUM chief and shadow trade unions minister. The contrasting receptions Hunt and Lavery received shows which direction the party is heading.

Sebastian Payne

Labour’s EU debate focuses on workers’ rights and not working with the Tories

Labour conference has been debating the EU referendum this morning and there was not a scintilla of indication that the party wants to do anything but vigorously campaign stay in. The main issue raised was workers’ rights — Alan Johnson, who is leading Labour’s campaign to remain in the EU, said  ‘there is no progressive case for leaving the EU’ and pointed towards the Trade Union Bill as an example of how the government doesn't care about this issue: ‘We know how this government feels about workers’ rights. The trade union bill did not come from Europe. That nasty, spiteful, repressive bill would not have emanated from any other mainstream, right of centre party anywhere in Europe other than the Conservative party in Britain.

Isabel Hardman

Len McCluskey uses Tory rebel David Davis to attack trade union bill

The Labour conference is currently debating a motion on the Trade Union Bill, which Shadow Business Secretary Angela Eagle made clear in her speech that the party will oppose. It gave Len McCluskey a chance to give his traditional pre-Shadow Chancellor conference speech, though this year the Unite leader didn't need to include any pleas to the Labour leadership to listen to him. Instead, he focused all the fire of his typically impassioned and forceful speech on the Tories. He suggested that the legislation curbing the powers of trade unions and their abilities to strike was more fitting for a fascist government. The Tories will be quite used to his strong rhetoric, but what will really irritate them is that McCluskey quoted David Davis' opposition to many of the measures in the Bill.

Isabel Hardman

McDonnell: I can both oppose and support Heathrow expansion

Is the Labour party right to be so worried that Jeremy Corbyn is its leader and John McDonnell is its Shadow Chancellor? Neither of them seem to be putting much effort into pushing the policies that have upset their colleagues the most. The Labour party will maintain its position on Trident after constituency party delegates decided not to debate the matter this week. Jeremy Corbyn is quite happy for his colleagues to take a different view on this issue, too. Similarly, on Heathrow, both Corbyn and McDonnell are opposed to expansion of the airport, but today the Shadow Chancellor told the Press Association that he might take one position as a constituency MP and another as Shadow Chancellor: ‘As a constituency MP I will be opposed to Heathrow.

Isabel Hardman

Labour conference: John McDonnell sticks to boring

The most remarkable thing about John McDonnell’s Labour conference speech was that he was delivering it at all. The new Shadow Chancellor was clearly trying to assuage fears about him by being as boring (something he'd promised) and mild as possible, announcing reviews headed by big names such as Bob Kerslake of the operation of the Treasury and and an Economic Advisory Committee that includes Thomas Piketty and Joseph Stigltiz. Reviews and committees mean you don’t have to announce as many policies, which is handy if you’re trying not to rock the boat too much early on. But to be fair to McDonnell, it’s also what all mainstream politicians do when they come into the job.

Isabel Hardman

Shadow Cabinet keeps business as usual at Labour conference

So far at this Labour conference, most of the fireworks have been on the Blairite side of the party, with figures such as Chuka Umunna, Ivan Lewis, Liz Kendall and John Woodcock making their displeasure known at events last night. But when it comes to Jeremy Corbyn’s frontbench, and some of the issues on which Corbyn himself has strong and controversial views, the conference has seemed surprisingly well-behaved: so far, at least.

Isabel Hardman

John McDonnell tries to get voters to trust him and his party on the economy

The Shadow Chancellor’s speech at Labour conference has always been the second biggest slot after the leader. But in a sense John McDonnell’s speech today, just before lunch, is the most important slot of the whole conference because he is talking about the policy area that did the most to put voters off Labour in May. A review by Jon Cruddas found that voters were well-aware of Labour’s anti-austerity message, and that they didn’t like it, even though all the retail offers on energy bills and so on were popular. But McDonnell believes that voters need to be told of the dangers of austerity, which they haven’t, and then they will come over to his way of thinking.

Sebastian Payne

Labour conference 2015: Monday fringe guide

Every morning throughout party conference season, we’ll be providing our pick of the fringe events on Coffee House. Labour conference kicks a up notch today, with big speeches due from Alan Johnson, Hilary Benn and John McDonnell. But as ever, much of the excitement can be found at the fringe events - with ministers, moderates, future leadership contenders, Corbynites and even the leader himself making appearances in stuffy Brighton hotels. Here is our pick of Monday's events.

Steerpike

Ghosts of Labour’s past at New Statesman conference bash

As Labour conference kicked off on Sunday on Brighton pier, it was a case of the ghosts of Labour's past at the annual New Statesman party. The magazine's editor Jason Cowley told attendees who had their journeys affected by train works not to worry as 'Corbyn has a plan for the railways', before reflecting on what had happened to the party in the space of a year.  'At our party last year in Manchester Ed Miliband was standing beside me and I introduced him as our next Prime Minister,' he told partygoers at Brighton's Al Fresco restaurant. While Miliband stayed away this time, the party's new leader was also notably absent.

Sunday

Sebastian Payne

In photos: the Corbynisation of Labour conference

The main halls and speeches at party conferences tend to be the least interesting parts — the words are briefed out to the press in advance, what politicians say is on stage is usually dull and you can watch it all on TV anyway. It’s the fringe events and exhibitions that give a better sense of a party's mood. Judging by the halls of the Brighton Centre, Jeremy Corbyn has certainly had an impact on the whole party (click on the pictures to enlarge). Wandering through the exhibition halls, I was struck just how many trade unions are present have big flashy stands.

Isabel Hardman

Jeremy Corbyn’s new look Labour leadership means he’s happy not to lead

Jeremy Corbyn had a very good interview on Marr this morning. For anyone in the wider, non-Westminster world tuning in (and they do), the new Labour leader would have come across as reasonable, mild, and normal. When Marr pressed him on certain issues, Corbyn looked as though he was an academic having a good debate in his study over a glass of port (or marrow juice, maybe), rather than a politician panicking as he tried to remember the next line that he’d memorised from the spin doctor’s briefing. He even managed to get some quips about internal Labour democracy in, joking that the programme should film ‘compositing in action’.

Sebastian Payne

Labour conference 2015: Sunday fringe guide

Good morning comrades! Labour's annual conference kicks off in sunny Brighton today and it's set to be one of the most exciting gatherings in years. We usually comb through the fringe listings to point you towards the most interesting events. However, the conference programme was printed before Jeremy Corbyn rose to leader and the majority of notable speakers have either quit or been sacked from the shadow cabinet. This makes picking out the best fringes a little more difficult than in previous years. Plus, in the brave new world of Corbyn's leadership, the people to watch have changed. We've gathered a list below of events today featuring speakers both in and outside the new leadership team.

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Tory MPs like Jeremy Corbyn’s PMQs style

Jeremy Corbyn knows he has a lot to prove at his party’s conference, which starts on Sunday. The highlight of his leadership so far has been his new tone at PMQs, which did catch attention, even if the questions he asked rather turned the session into an opportunity for David Cameron to look Prime Ministerial. The Labour leader knows he needs to make changes from that first attempt (his first ever stint at the dispatch box), but he’s not the only one mulling how to manage the session. A number of Tory MPs have told me that they have received a good load of letters and emails since that PMQs session from constituents impressed by Corbyn’s new style.

Thursday

Peter Jones

Corbyn’s democracy

The virtuous Mr Corbyn is insisting that New Old Labour should return to its traditional republican ways and take decisions ‘democratically’. The emperor Tiberius (ad 14–37) tried this one and it did not work. The first Roman emperor Augustus agreed to his stepson Tiberius’ accession only because death had cheated him of all his preferred options. The problem was that Tiberius’ heart was not really in it. A man with republican sympathies, he seemed to be keen to persuade the senate to return to involvement in the full process of ‘democratic’ rule and decision-making, duties which that body had embraced for nearly 500 years under the republic, but which Augustus had rather sidelined as he single-handedly turned the republic into a monarchy.

Tom Holland

Diary – 24 September 2015

Jeremy Corbyn has been compared to plenty of people over the past few months — a geography teacher, Michael Foot, Brian from the Monty Python film — but my favourite comparison was to a horse. Steve Fielding, professor of politics at Nottingham, declared Corbyn’s election ‘an act of political stupidity unparalleled since Caligula appointed his horse to the Roman senate’. As someone with a book just published on Rome’s first imperial dynasty, I was doubly thrilled. First, Professor Fielding had confirmed the conviction in which I had written my history of the first Caesars: that two millennia on, the West’s primal examples of political excess continue to instruct and appal.

The Spectator

Barometer | 24 September 2015

Available for parties Labour deputy leader Tom Watson said that leaving his party to join the Liberal Democrats would be like ‘leaving the Beatles to join a Bananarama tribute band’. Is there such a thing? Bananaruma is a Leicester-based band led by the head of arts at a local secondary school. They advertise an hour-long show, for which they bring their own professional PA system with full lighting show. So far they have had one booking, at the Stamford Arms in Groby on 25 July. Tickets cost £20, including a three-course meal, with a bottle of bubbly thrown in for tables of six who booked before 1 July. Sporting chances The chief medical officer for World Rugby suggested that the game’s rules might have to be changed to reduce the risk of serious injury.