AT the time of writing the Q&A session at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester is still in progress so it is difficult to draw conclusions from it. However, there were plenty of clues about the state of the Labour Party to be found in yesterday's newspapers. A four-page spread on David Miliband in the Daily Mirror suggested that his interest in the leadership has not subsided, although his signed article insisted that there was no vacancy at No 10. In The TImes Alan Johnson argued rather more convincingly that he had ruled himself out of a bid for the leadership. The Labour backbench rebels calling for a leadership contest said that they had called a truce because of the global financial crisis.
Gordon Brown contributed an interesting article to The Guardian -- interesting both because of its content and its style. The simplicity of its language and clarity of its construction suggested that the prime minister may at last have got some expert advice on how to put his case across. His principal message was captured in this passage: While responding to a changing world, our values of fairness and social justice remain our guide.
Everything since 1997 and everything this week in Manchester is driven by united commitment to fair rules, fair chances and a fair say for all. Another important observation was this: People are beginning to see that politics is not a permanent referendum on a government, but a choice between competing philosophies. The implied rebuke to short term judgements encouraged by a multiplicity of opinion polls is timely, as is the reminder of the fundamental differences that remain between Labour and the Conservatives.