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

FORMER Sun editor David Dinsmore told delegates at a packed Tory conference fringe meeting that his newspapers are vital for “nuance” in politics while social media is causing “polarisation.”
Dinsmore, who is now chief operating officer of Rupert Murdoch’s News UK business, also claimed that the Sun was partly responsible for the success of Britain’s vaccination effort as he demanded his newspapers be free from new internet regulations in the interests of “democracy.”
Dinsmore was addressing a meeting at the Conservative conference in Manchester organised by the Digital Tories group alongside Damian Collins, the Tory MP chairing the committee of MPs inspecting the new Online Safety Bill, which will regulate web content.

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