ANALYSIS: The Supreme Court ruling has given Jeremy Corbyn the boost he needed
2 min read
You have to feel sorry for Rebecca Long-Bailey.
On what had been labelled 'Becky Day', the Shadow Business Secretary was supposed to be burnishing her credentials to be Jeremy Corbyn's heir apparent.
But as she delivered her keynote address to Labour's conference in Brighton, setting out her plans for a Green New Deal, only those in the hall were listening.
In a particularly cruel blow, even the Labour press office was glued to the live footage of Lady Hale, the president of the Supreme Court, delivering their ruling.
But while it has been a sub-optimal day for Long-Bailey, the court's decision to rule Boris Johnson's prorogation of Parliament "unlawful" has provided the perfect tonic for Jeremy Corbyn.
After days of rows, plots and back-biting, Labour delegates rose as one as their leader unexpectedly strode onto the conference stage after Long-Bailey finished.
By then, the news from London had already reached the hall - but Corbyn was not going to miss the chance the milk the moment.
To huge cheers, he declared: "The Supreme Court has just announced its decision and it shows that the Prime Minister has acted wrongly in shutting down Parliament.
"A Labour government would want to be held to account. We wouldn’t bypass democracy. And I invite Boris Johnson, in the historic words, to consider his position [more cheers] and become the shortest-serving Prime Minister there’s ever been [conference roof almost comes off]."
In an instant, the conference mood shifted from gloom and suspicion to unbridled joy.
Who knows, maybe even Tom Watson might get a decent reception when he speaks later on.
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