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

KEIR STARMER suddenly announced he was abandoning nationalising energy companies on the Andrew Marr show during the Labour conference — he forced Labour to U-turn without any preparation or discussion.
This week, the Times had a long interview with Rachel Reeves where they reminded the shadow chancellor about Labour’s previous plans to nationalise rail and water. According to the Times, Reeves said, laughing, “We’re definitely not going to talk about that.” So a wider retreat from nationalisation seems to be happening — and it’s all a bit of a laugh.
Just as Labour become too timid to talk about nationalisation, fearing it will make the CBI sad, or they won’t be able to stand up to “how will you pay for it” arguments, Johnson’s Tories are busy nationalising away.

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