Pat McFadden’s bizarre Reform rant

Ahead of the Prime Minister’s address a number of Cabinet ministers are savouring the last full day of their party conference. Pat McFadden – Labour’s campaign co-ordinator and now the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster – was in conversation with the Guardian’s Pippa Crerar this morning, enthusiastically recounting election night, lamenting the loss of Labour colleagues who lost their seats and talking political strategy. McFadden lauded the support of his wife, the deputy campaign director, throughout the election campaign – ‘without her it wouldn’t have happened – before describing his reaction to the exit poll. ‘Relief was the word,’ he admitted. ‘I didn’t jump around the kitchen or anything like that. The emotion was relief.’

But the usually measured man was not quite so softly-spoken on the subject of his political opponents. Indeed when an audience member quizzed the Labour strategist on the problem posed by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, McFadden was quick to launch into a heated tirade about the right-wingers.