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

CAST your mind back to June 2018. You might remember lots of very friendly media reports of attempts to disrupt Labour Live, a big Labour rally in north London.
The press all said this was a popular youth rebellion by pro-Labour “anti-Brexit” campaigners. But the most prominent of these “rebels” are now working for pro-Brexit Tories.
The Daily Mirror, for example, carried a very friendly report about protesters who unfurled a “Stop Backing Brexit” banner among the crowd in the outdoor festival, just as Jeremy Corbyn took to the stage.

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