Labour Party Conference 2009

Last week I was in Brighton for the Labour Party Conference. It certainly did not feel like a conference of a party which was lost and on the way out of government, but was alive with ideas and optimism. It was absolutely right to emphasise the fact that the Tories had no response to the economic crisis last year, and that the Government's response is recognised internationally as having been the right thing to do. I am sure that the electorate will weigh this up in due course, but it is a message which it is difficult to get past the media which has already collectively called the election for David Cameron. I thought the Sun's decision to back Cameron after Gordon Brown's speech was wholly unconvincing. I overheard the interview between the BBC and the Sun's Trevor Kavanagh - who appeared to be fairly lamely following his boss's orders. At the end of the day the decision of the Sun to back the Tories reflects the business interests of one businessman, Rupert Murdoch, and we should not attach too much weight to it.

I was also pleased that Gordon Brown set out a positive agenda for us to campaign on for the General Election. The aspiration of a National Care Service to complement our National Health Service seems to me to be a talismanic policy which should energise Labour voters and supporters. Our whole agenda of equality and opportunity represents so much which is the best of Britain.

Three days into the Tories "Austerity Conference" I think that there going to be a real choice for the electorate to make, and a real fight for Britain's future ahead.