ANALYSIS: Labour managed to put its big splits to one side in Liverpool - and focus on its big ideas
When Jeremy Corbyn walks off stage after his big conference speech today the Labour top team will be patting themselves on the back.
A get-together that was set to be mired in Brexit rows, anti-Semitism allegations and the possibility of a party split will have been a smoother ride than many expected. Sure there were flashpoints and finger-jabbing spats along the way - but there was no great implosion, and Labour actually managed to talk about policy.
John McDonnell won headlines with his pledge to force the bosses of water firms to reapply for their jobs on lower salaries under Labour's nationalisation plans. He also vowed to force big companies to hand shares to staff – a classic Labour bid to shift profits and power into the hands of workers while creaming off a healthy portion for the state. Plans to rethink Universal Credit, end ATM charges and boost free childcare also got a good hearing – while Corbyn himself made the weather ahead of his big speech with a trail about a green jobs revolution.
The announcements – aimed squarely at disillusioned voters in Labour heartlands who plumped for Brexit in 2016 – risked being blown off course by a number of near-misses during the Liverpool get-together. A major clash over Brexit was teed up when Keir Starmer went off script to insist Remain should be on the ballot paper in any second referendum in outright defiance of John McDonnell – but the Shadow Chancellor quickly backed down. And a Brexit motion put to the conference floor was sufficiently ambiguous to win support from the disparate wings of the party.
A Shadow Cabinet source says: "We took five hours in Liverpool to achieve a consensus on Brexit. Theresa May has taken two years and got nowhere."
The anti-Semitism row meanwhile simmered away at fringes and on the main stage but failed to fully boil over. Images of Jewish MP Luciana Berger with a police escort, an on-edge debate about Palestine in the central hall, and sharp words from Tom Watson at the annual Labour Friends of Israel event were worrying mood music that never reached a crescendo.
Elsewhere, Labour rulebook changes were either fudged into non-existence or watered down enough for everyone to grudgingly accept. And there was even a short-lived sectarian row when NEC chair Andy Kerr joked about a woman who crossed herself, while Unite boss Len McCluskey managed to get himself into two finger-jabbing rows with various comrades. But none of it managed to derail the proceedings and prevent the party from getting its message out: that it has big hopes for power and a few ideas in the bag for if it gets there.
Corbyn and his team will be raising a glass tonight, either to improved party management on their part - or just plain luck. Next week, it’s the turn of the Tories with their jamboree in Birmingham – and something in the air suggests it might not be such plain sailing for Theresa May. A Labour source says: "At conference, we’ve shown that we are fizzing with ideas, creating genuine excitement about our plan to rebuild our country for the many not the few. I imagine it will be night and day with next week’s Tory conference, where their divisions and lack of ideas will be on full display." Over to you, Theresa.
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