Sebastian Payne

The Mayor of London dropped by the Policy Exchange tent this afternoon to take on rowing champion James Cracknell. As you can watch below, Boris Johnson claimed he wasn’t even trying but was still beaten in a 200m sprint by only four seconds. Cracknell did it in 35 seconds, Boris in 39 seconds. This makes him the fastest MP to undertake the challenge: WATCH: @BorisJohnson vs. @JamesCracknell at Policy Exchange rowing challenge. Cracknell won by just 4 seconds #cpc15 https://t.co/rZQ9VY4HFA — Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) October 5, 2015 The stunt was to promote a new report about obesity. Johnson said he was ‘fit as a fiddle’ but ‘highly doubted’ he had more stamina than his future leadership rival George Osborne.

The Conservatives are wrapped in the quiet cocoon of Manchester Central today and the conference has a subdued vibe — many activists might be staying away until the anti-austerity protests are over. But the halls are packed out with the exhibitors, shops and merchandise you'd expect for a party that has won its first majority in 23 years and is in celebratory mode. Here are some of the most Tory things in Manchester (click on the pictures to enlarge). One of the more interesting additions to the exhibition hall this year is the Conservative Party Archive. The Tories now have a whole stand dedicated to the party's vast archives at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

As expected, Zac Goldsmith has won the Conservative nomination for next year's Mayor of London race with a sweeping 71 per cent of the vote - but on a distressingly small turnout. Anyone in London could vote by paying £1, so there had been hopes of a high turnout - figures of 60,000 were mentioned. But a pitiful 9,227 turned out to vote, from a city of ten million. Given the excitement caused by Labour's leadership race, this is hugely disappointing for the Tories — and bodes ill for the race now in prospect. If the turnout was bad for Zac, it was worse for everyone else. Syed Kamall, an MEP for London, was second with 16 per cent.

Labour's conference is rolling to a close today and it hasn't been the explosive event some predicted it might be. In this View from 22 special, Isabel Hardman, James Forsyth and I discuss the highs and lows of the past days in Brighton and the impact it has had on the party. How big was the divide between the Corbyn-friendly activists and the MPs and politicos? And will next year's conference see the promised fireworks?

Along with Dan Jarvis, Keir Starmer is one of the new intake of Labour MPs who is cited as a rising star and someone who could replace Jeremy Corbyn. The former Director of Public Prosecutions and MP for Holborn and St Pancras, spoke at a Bright Blue fringe event this evening about Labour’s general election defeat and how the party can rebuild itself. Starmer backed Andy Burnham for the leadership and had a few choice words about Corbynmania: ‘I don’t think it’s about Jeremy Corbyn – I think it’s about a disaffection that’s been growing for a very long time. We lost most of our voters in 05 and we haven’t got them back. They were yearning of something else, none of the above.

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.