Steerpike

At Conservative party conference next week, expect a lot of soul-searching over what exactly went wrong for the Tories in the snap election. Happily, the Prime Minister has kicked proceedings off early – telling the House magazine that the big problem was that the Tories just weren't ready for an early election: 'I think the other issue was the need to have, in a sense, a less centralised campaign. You obviously need to have a central focus in the campaign. But I think that an awful lot of people out there in the party worked hard on the ground, and there is a feeling that there wasn’t the ability to do what they wanted to do. There weren’t the links with the centre that there should have been. That’s one of the issues we need to look at.

John McDonnell has never had an easy relationship with big business. The shadow chancellor thinks there is a 'lot to learn' from Karl Marx and says one of his favourite pastimes is 'fermenting the conditions to overthrow capitalism'. McDonnell is hoping his latest charm offensive to woo businesses will help them to forget those remarks. But the shadow chancellor might have to try a bit harder to win them over. The Labour Business Fringe Reception at the party's conference last night was a chance to do just that. A smattering of businesses, including Microsoft, were there. The only problem? John McDonnell was nowhere to be seen. After waiting over an hour for the shadow chancellor, many of those attending took the hint and decided to move on elsewhere. Mr S.

This year's Labour conference has been largely overshadowed by a row about anti-Semitism. At a Labour Friends of Israel event on the final night of the party’s conference, Jeremy Corbyn had a perfect opportunity to send a message of support to worried Jewish Labour members. Instead, he didn’t show up. Labour MP Joan Ryan, who was chairing the event, said she was 'disappointed' Corbyn didn’t come. Some in the crowd were not happy either at the Labour leader's decision to stay away, with cries of 'Where is he?' and 'Why is he not here?

After a conspicuous one year absence, Keith Vaz’s 'Diversity Nite' has made a comeback at Labour’s conference. Vaz kept a low profile at last year’s party gathering in the wake of allegations surrounding a pair of rent boys. This year, Vaz's big conference bash - which involves members of the shadow cabinet dancing while Vaz presides on stage - made a return. Behind Vaz flashed up pictures of the likes of Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks, as guests munched on Leicester's finest Biryanis. On stage, Jeremy Corbyn was presented as the guest of honour by Vaz to chants of 'Oh, Jeremy Corbyn' from the crowd. Here’s a video of Jez’s arrival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPcp2E1qNyM Diane Abbott also joined in the fun.

It's that time of the year again. As Labour conference kicks off in Brighton, the annual event has managed to attract a range of interesting characters – all with a common aim: true socialism. With Labour leading in the polls, Mr S has been touring the conference centre and World Transformed festival to get a glimpse of what life would be like under Corbyn: [caption id="attachment_9940392" align="aligncentre" width="520"] Bye bye Sun[/caption] [caption id="attachment_9940542" align="aligncentre" width="520"] (Credit: Lucy Fisher)[/caption] [caption id="attachment_9940342" align="aligncentre" width="620"] A World Transformed display[/caption] [caption id="attachment_9940402" align="aligncentre" width="520"] Labour – a party for workers?

Although Theresa May did manage to prevent a revolt breaking out after her speech in Florence yesterday, that's not to say anyone in Cabinet is particularly pleased by her words. The Prime Minister did buy herself more time – but failed to clearly say where she what direction she was planning to go in that period. On the backbenches, Conservative MPs have less reason to hold their tongue over such concerns – as Jacob Rees-Mogg demonstrated on Newsnight.