Isabel Hardman

Will George Osborne get away with his conference gamble that hits working families? The Chancellor's speech would have received a far worse reception on the front pages of today's newspapers had it not been for the announcement on GPs offering a seven-day service. But it remains a topic of debate in the party. Today at a lunchtime fringe, the Chancellor tried to defend his two-year freeze on working-age benefits by arguing that he had taken uncomfortable decisions for a Conservative, such as raising corporation tax. He also was careful not to appear to be gleeful about cutting welfare, an impression he has given in the past.

Tory conference has been much more upbeat than last week's gloomy offer from Labour. But just in case the party had turned up in a bad mood after the defection of Mark Reckless, MPs were given a series of lines to take which involved them telling any broadcaster unfortunate to ask that the gathering in Birmingham was demonstrating 'energy' and 'positivity'. Those lines to take, leaked to Coffee House, show the party preparing for a week of awkward questions about Ukip taking their voters and overshadowing their conference. One of the questions is 'have Mark Reckless and Ukip overshadowed your conference?' The answer is: 'I disagree.

Boris Johnson and Theresa May both fancy a pop at the Tory leadership and both gave speeches today that showed they were keen. That much is so well-known that it is a little tiring to analyse either speech simply in those terms (though it's worth noting that Boris supporters have been very keen indeed to tell us that this was a 'grown-up, loyal speech that shows he has a track record of delivery. Boris has a vision that is optimistic'). Both did a good job of rallying the troops in the conference hall, although in quiet different ways. May was sober but passionate about the threat posed to Britain by Isis, warning that the terror group could acquire nuclear weapons. She quoted the Koran on stage to demonstrate that Isis was twisting the sacred texts it claims to be fighting for.

The Tories are bracing themselves for another defection to Ukip which may or may not come today or in the next few days. MPs and whips have been chasing after Adam Holloway and Chris Kelly as the figures who seem the most at risk, and have been extracting the sort of point blank denials that Mark Reckless claims to have never been asked for. Daniel Hannan has been denying again that he is leaving his party, while another rumour is doing the rounds that the next defection could be from a London Conservative working with Boris, rather than the Commons or the European Parliament. MPs are angry and determined to put as much pressure on Reckless as possible, not least because many of his colleagues feel betrayed.

Two of the brightest rising stars in the Conservative party, Sajid Javid and Liz Truss, addressed the Tory conference. After an angry day yesterday where Grant Shapps and the PM furiously attacked Ukip and their backbench colleagues piled in to savage Mark Reckless, the pair needed to use their slow to re-focus party minds on fighting Labour in the general election. They are both well-equipped for such a task: Javid started his speech with a passage on his values as a British Tory, then moved onto attacking the snobbery he encountered from the Labour Party when he was appointed Culture Secretary, and Ken Livingstone's comments that he saw Javid as a Pakistani and a banker. Javid responded: 'well, Ken, I'm British.

There's a funny mood at this Tory conference. It has more energy than the Labour conference, but partly that energy is anger at Mark Reckless' defection, rather than enthusiasm. MPs and advisers are jittery that another defection will come at another terribly inconvenient moment. A third MP leaving the party will suggest real momentum. So George Osborne's task when he speaks a little later this morning is to turn the energy that's buzzing about the hall into enthusiasm for government. The Labour conference, for all its desire to get the Tories out of office, lacked that sincere excitement about the idea of the party being in charge. The Tories need to show that they're not running out of ideas or exhausted by government, but are keen for a majority government.

Mark Reckless has been talking about moving to Ukip for months, those who know him say. It was only in the last two weeks that he decided he was definitely defecting, and only in the past few days that more people working for the party knew what was happening. Still, they managed to keep it under wraps to the extent that some journalists had gone home early, dismissing the reports of defections as overexcited chatter. The hall was gobsmacked when he appeared.

Mark Reckless has just left the Conservative Party and joined Ukip. He is announcing his defection on the stage at the party's conference to huge cheers. listen to ‘Podcast special: Mark Reckless defects to Ukip’ on audioBoom Reckless says it is the leadership of the Tory party that is holding the country back — Isabel Hardman (@IsabelHardman) September 27, 2014 This is horrendous for the Tories — Isabel Hardman (@IsabelHardman) September 27, 2014 More to follow...

As reported earlier this week, a group of Conservative MPs are keen to get English votes for English laws sorted as soon as possible. Bill Cash has sent William Hague a change to the standing orders of the House of Commons which would enforce this principle immediately. He has also written to party colleagues asking for their support on this, and says he has heard sympathetic noises from the party leadership on the idea too (although it depends who you talk to as to how sympathetic the noises sound). Cash told Coffee House that it was imperative that the government avoided bringing in EVEL through legislation as it would almost certainly end up with a Supreme Court challenge.