Labour conference has now finished. Today was better than the others, but the delegates still struggled to show their enthusiasm when Ed Miliband reappeared on the stage this afternoon. Three people gave him a standing ovation.
The mood at this conference really has been flat. At a fringe run by the Fabian Society last night, I was mildly perturbed as a Spectator journalist to be told by one member that I and other members of the panel were probably being too optimistic about the party’s prospects of getting into government. There have been a few notable moments when delegates seemed quite emotional, including during the powerful speech from 91-year old Harry Smith, which was the warm-up for Andy Burnham’s own well-received speech. But those moments have not carried the conference. Instead there is a weird look of dread on the faces of many members and MPs. They had started after Douglas Carswell’s defection from the Tories to Ukip to say they were now thinking about what government would be really like: now they look a bit horrified by how bad they think it’s going to be.
The conference seemed excited by the idea of getting the Tories out, but not at all by the idea of governing.
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