Apart from a bright spark of hope in the victory of the Gaza motion, this year’s conference lacked vision and purpose — we need to urgently reconnect Labour with its roots rather than weakly aping the flag-waving right, argues KIM JOHNSON MP

IF you want to see how politically connected privatisation firms make money out of the NHS, you can look over the latest accounts for Medacs Healthcare PLC, released at the end of July. They show how the NHS privatisers do well out of the NHS doing badly.
Its annual report tells us: “The group has identified Lord Ashcroft as the ultimate controlling party” of Medacs. Ashcroft “has influence” over half the shares of Medacs’ parent company Impellam, which he chairs.
Ashcroft is one of the Tories’ main donors, giving the party millions over the years.

The new angle from private firms shmoozing their way into public contracts was the much-trumpeted arrival of ‘artificial intelligence’ — and no-one seemed to have heard the numerous criticisms of this unproven miracle cure, reports SOLOMON HUGHES

It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES

Keir Starmer’s hiring Tim Allan from Tory-led Strand Partners is another illustration of Labour’s corporate-influence world where party differences matter less than business connections, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

MBDA’s Alabama factory makes components for Boeing’s GBU-39 bombs used to kill civilians in Gaza. Its profits flow through Stevenage to Paris — and it is one of the British government’s favourite firms, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES