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| No Labour bloodbath but row on defence opens old wounds | No Labour bloodbath but row on defence opens old wounds |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| It was a tale of two conferences over a week in which the dazzling Brighton sunshine of an Indian summer shone equally on all the delegates. | It was a tale of two conferences over a week in which the dazzling Brighton sunshine of an Indian summer shone equally on all the delegates. |
| To supporters of Jeremy Corbyn, their Labour conference marked the start of a healing process within the party as MPs from other camps watched the new leader begin to explain his values to the nation. | To supporters of Jeremy Corbyn, their Labour conference marked the start of a healing process within the party as MPs from other camps watched the new leader begin to explain his values to the nation. |
| Corbyn’s final flourish in his speech, in which he quoted Labour’s first leader, Keir Hardie, seeking to “stir up a divine discontent with wrong”, marked the moment for some when he defined his driving mission in politics. | Corbyn’s final flourish in his speech, in which he quoted Labour’s first leader, Keir Hardie, seeking to “stir up a divine discontent with wrong”, marked the moment for some when he defined his driving mission in politics. |
| In the same conference hall, Labour MPs struggling to come to terms with Corbyn’s leadership heard a different message when Corbyn quoted Keir Hardie. In their eyes Labour’s first leader was a romantic figure who never held power and regarded it as his job to improve the right of workers through parliamentary pressure from opposition. | |
| Related: Labour split on defence grows as Eagle criticises Corbyn over Trident | Related: Labour split on defence grows as Eagle criticises Corbyn over Trident |
| With history hovering over the conference, it was only fitting that the week started and ended with a row on defence, the issue that has bedevilled the party throughout its history. The differences over Trident, aired in the city where Labour’s only pacifist leader, George Lansbury, failed to persuade trade union leaders of the need to disarm in 1935, go to the heart of the differences between Labour’s two wings. | With history hovering over the conference, it was only fitting that the week started and ended with a row on defence, the issue that has bedevilled the party throughout its history. The differences over Trident, aired in the city where Labour’s only pacifist leader, George Lansbury, failed to persuade trade union leaders of the need to disarm in 1935, go to the heart of the differences between Labour’s two wings. |
| Corbyn regards his opposition to Trident as a red-line issue that illustrates the scale of change in the era of “new politics” heralded by his emphatic victory in the Labour contest. | Corbyn regards his opposition to Trident as a red-line issue that illustrates the scale of change in the era of “new politics” heralded by his emphatic victory in the Labour contest. |
| To others in the shadow cabinet, support for Trident is a sign of a party that is serious about winning power by reassuring voters about the nation’s security. The two sides exchanged awkward looks in the dying hours of the conference as pro-Trident Labour MPs expressed dismay when Corbyn said he would never authorise the use of nuclear weapons. | To others in the shadow cabinet, support for Trident is a sign of a party that is serious about winning power by reassuring voters about the nation’s security. The two sides exchanged awkward looks in the dying hours of the conference as pro-Trident Labour MPs expressed dismay when Corbyn said he would never authorise the use of nuclear weapons. |
| The Corbyn camp believe these MPs have yet to understand how the tectonic plates have shifted. In the era of new politics, they say, plenty of space has been set aside for people to air different views. | The Corbyn camp believe these MPs have yet to understand how the tectonic plates have shifted. In the era of new politics, they say, plenty of space has been set aside for people to air different views. |
| The new Labour leadership team regard the week as a success after Corbyn showed, in his hour-long conference speech on Tuesday, that he is a natural, unspun figure. Some Corbyn supporters were alarmed by the inclusion of a passage in his speech that had been written four years ago by Denis Healey’s former special adviser, Richard Heller. This smacked of an alarming characteristic: for all his talk of inclusive politics, Corbyn’s office is run by a small group whose members fail to consult widely. | The new Labour leadership team regard the week as a success after Corbyn showed, in his hour-long conference speech on Tuesday, that he is a natural, unspun figure. Some Corbyn supporters were alarmed by the inclusion of a passage in his speech that had been written four years ago by Denis Healey’s former special adviser, Richard Heller. This smacked of an alarming characteristic: for all his talk of inclusive politics, Corbyn’s office is run by a small group whose members fail to consult widely. |
| Related: A Labour conference for activists – while Corbyn works out what to do | Related: A Labour conference for activists – while Corbyn works out what to do |
| Within the tight-knit Corbyn camp, where rows are discouraged, one figure had the grace to admit he had been at fault. Len McCluskey, general secretary of the Unite union, and a supporter of Corbyn’s leadership, admitted in private that he had been wrong to advise against the appointment of John McDonnell as shadow chancellor. McDonnell insisted at a Guardian fringe meeting on Tuesday that he had succeeded where Ed Balls failed in showing that Labour was serious about clearing the deficit and becoming Britain’s main anti-austerity party. | Within the tight-knit Corbyn camp, where rows are discouraged, one figure had the grace to admit he had been at fault. Len McCluskey, general secretary of the Unite union, and a supporter of Corbyn’s leadership, admitted in private that he had been wrong to advise against the appointment of John McDonnell as shadow chancellor. McDonnell insisted at a Guardian fringe meeting on Tuesday that he had succeeded where Ed Balls failed in showing that Labour was serious about clearing the deficit and becoming Britain’s main anti-austerity party. |
| Critics of Corbyn who attended the other Labour conference in Brighton left the seaside in despair. They believe that the party leader’s failure in his speech to mention the issues that cost Labour the election – immigration and the deficit – show the new leadership has no idea of how to reach out to mainstream voters. | Critics of Corbyn who attended the other Labour conference in Brighton left the seaside in despair. They believe that the party leader’s failure in his speech to mention the issues that cost Labour the election – immigration and the deficit – show the new leadership has no idea of how to reach out to mainstream voters. |
| Some spoke of a disaster with no signs of hope. Others were more optimistic, saying the week had ended better than expected after the party at least avoided a bloodbath. | Some spoke of a disaster with no signs of hope. Others were more optimistic, saying the week had ended better than expected after the party at least avoided a bloodbath. |
| The pained debates within the Labour family will delight the most calculating man in British politics: George Osborne will be poring over the outpourings of grief. | The pained debates within the Labour family will delight the most calculating man in British politics: George Osborne will be poring over the outpourings of grief. |