The Tory conference was a pseudo-sacred affair, with devotees paying homage in front of Thatcher’s old shrouds — and your reporter, initially barred, only need mention he’d once met her to gain access. But would she consider what was on offer a worthy legacy, asks ANDREW MURRAY

LABOUR freefalling down to 25 per cent in the polls, behind Reform, is raising questions about Keir Starmer’s direction. Some formerly pro-Starmer publications are toying with “Blue Labour,” a group claiming to be “socially conservative” but “economically leftist,” as an alternative.
In the words of the Guardian, Blue Labour can “seriously challenge” the “indifferent, profit-seeking interests of financial capital” and “free market capitalism,” wrenching Labour back to the interests of the workers, while supposedly reassuring those workers with their socially conservative, anti-migration stands. For Blue Labour supporters, working people always get the blame for “conservative” and “anti-migrant” views, not middle-class people.
However, even a cursory inspection shows Blue Labour’s “left economics” are often absent, while the “socially conservative” stances fit easily into Starmer’s “flag-shagging” approach.

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