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

WILL Labour be better than advertised? “Soft left” supporters of Sir Keir Starmer are trying to reassure themselves that Labour’s bleak promises to do very little redistribution or reform are just a ruse: Labour is trying to sneak into government past the right-wing press and reactionary voters by adopting a low profile.
Once elected, they hope Rachel Reeves will say: “We’ve looked at the books, and it looks like we will have to tax the rich after all.”
Reeves’s recent announcement in the Telegraph that she has torn up her own former commitment to a “wealth tax” prompted another round of “she’s only saying that to get elected and doesn’t mean it” from the soft left.

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