An old cynic goes to Liverpool

Sunday. At the Labour Party conference. Loads of young people in suits clutching important briefcases, in readiness for an important job (or internship) in government. And that's just the MPs. First off to a Morning Star meeting, where such ambitions are temporarily suspended. Instead, deselection is more likely - one speaker is Beth Winter (Cynon Valley), who kicks off the speeches with an impassioned call for community Solidarity. Every speech ends with the 'S' word, five syllables unlikely to ever pass the Leader's lips. But nobody mentions him. Every time solidarity is mentioned it nevertheless sounds like a rebuke. Is there radicalism alive here? Mick Whelan (ASLEF) thinks the word 'class' should be resurrected, recognising that the Tories have always waged a class war - simply the wealthy class versus the workers. Richard Burgon (Leeds East) suggests a wealth tax - 1.5% on income over £10 million. I suspect this would leave the new class war very much in place, but perhaps he feels it's such a modest proposal the leadership might agree to it. Live in hope Richard! He also calls for capital gains to be taxed at the same rate as income, a long overdue necessity but also destined never to happen.
 
Later, go to a reception for remoaners hosted by Pedro Serrano, EU Ambassador to the UK. David Lammy delivers a speech full of his favourite clichés (from a very deep well). Such inspiring stuff, reaching a crescendo when he drew an analogy of our relationship with the EU with how his fave football team Tottenham is managed. Football analogies always raise a laugh whilst at the same time demonstrating how well located you are in the lives of ordinary people, as opposed to the lives of those who attend Bilderberg conferences.
 
Onwards! A meeting Monday morning organised by the Centre for Cities is asking why some areas of the country fall behind in productivity. I feel a sense of deja vu. Weren't we talking about this 20 years ago? I asked the question. I don't think I got a clear answer. Perhaps it's down to the fact that a lot of the people now talking about this on the top table weren't here 20 years ago. So, I need to find the one with the answers. Who better than Ed Miliband, delivering his conference speech. I haven't seen him so impassioned. He could be leader! Keir's advisers will be worried that their wooden man will have been outshone. Ed at least suggested we had some policies. He needs to be careful not to let himself go native on energy policy - it's too energising! And the problem is, after fringe meeting after fringe meeting illustrates, the great energy transformation is horribly complex. Politicians can make laws, but it takes engineers to build bridges (so to speak). And we aren't training the engineers. This was a theme in a New Statesman meeting which was sponsored by the lobby group Offshore Energy UK. Just as their spokesperson was about to speak, proceedings were interrupted by a group of anti-fossil fuel protesters. They completed their cries of despair and were ushered out politely. Funny that they hadn't gone for interrupting Ed's speech, that would have got them on television.
 
The odyssey continues. Over to Cain's Brewery for a European Movement reception. I'm a bit early, so have to pay for my first drink. The reason I'm early is because the venue’s a bit of a walk from the conference centre. Maybe all the remoaners can't be seen too close to the main event. The anti-Brexit protester who wears the blue and yellow top hat is here, it's that bad. But yet again caution is in the air. Our top line speaker is Will Hutton, who references a Chinese proverb about using stepping stones to cross a river (or perhaps the English Channel).
 
Afterwards I ask Will if he has been asked to advise Labour’s current leadership. As I recall he was one of the wise - if possibly ignored (patronised?) wizards informing the Blair thinking. The State We're In was required reading. He says yes, occasionally but seems a little uncomfortable with the question. And why wouldn't he be? Who would want to own up to contributing to Starmer's blinkered vision of reform?
 
Tuesday, the big day, the big speech. But that's not until 2pm, so a few fringe meetings beforehand. I mistakenly end up into a room which I suspect but cannot prove is full of private health lobbyists. We're in ‘conversation' with Wes Streeting, shadow health secretary who it seems is not averse to taking the shilling of private health interests. I would like to have asked him why that's ok but am not chosen. He talks about how lucky he was getting NHS treatment for his cancer - it shouldn't be a matter of luck of course.
 
For the main event I find a seat in the overflow hall, where a big screen shows adverts for those philanthropic organisations Amazon and Uber, accompanied by the de rigueur pounding beat that always proceeds the Leader's speech. Starmer gets off to a standing ovation. It seems the audience has fallen under his spell. The now infamous glittering interruption notwithstanding there were no repeats of the regular heckling of the previous year. And who couldn't warm to such inspiring phrases like 'we're not here to mind the shop.' He talks of the Tories always looking after themselves, with tax cuts, etc. No mention oddly of us imposing higher taxes on them to reverse this awful situation. A lot of talk about 'working families' - now it seems ‘hard working’ families are passé but we do instead have repeated references to the hard road ahead. Something clearly has to be hard, especially when you have the very hard man who knows how to make hard choices. We can look forward to hard reforms, not state control and not free markets but something in-between. Applause! Apparently we're going to 'crowd in' private investment. In the NHS too? At the end of Starmer's speech the chap sat next to me said 'That's sealed the deal.' I felt like saying no, it's just another leader's speech. A momentary blip in the political theatre.
 
Back on the fringe, and my time is devoted to more energy topics. I probably owe Gary Smith, GMB general secretary a small apology. His remarks about renewables and 'decimated working class communities' may have been more about how so much of what the UK is developing is being imported from the likes of China and Denmark. Fair point. He was at a meeting promoting hydrogen. Another miracle cure.
 
The message I take away from this conference is that there are no miracle cures. We’ve moved out of Corbyn territory, that’s the change everyone was yearning for – but we’re not just here to manage the shop says Keir, obviously we’re no longer a nation of shopkeepers (that seems so increasingly true), we’re changemakers! But it’s going to be hard, hard, hard. At least it’ll be our hard. With our hard man.

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Ed Miliband in full flow