3.52am EDT
03:52
This morning the Today programme also broadcast an interview with Jeremy Corbyn recorded yesterday. Asked if he agreed with John McDonnell when he said the current Labour leader was acting like a Blairite tribute band, Corbyn made it clear he did. He replied:
Well, John has a way with words, he really does. I admire him. And I love the way he described the essay written by our leader as the Sermon on the Mount written by a focus group.
And asked if Angela Rayner was right to describe the Tories as scum, he replied:
She has a way with words and she’s right to be really strong in opposing what this government has done. I am alarmed at the levels of poverty and inequality in our society, and I’m horrified at the way in which racist attitudes are promoted against refugees and asylum seekers. History is not going to judge well in 50 years’, 100 years’ time, those that turned desperate refugees away.
3.44am EDT
03:44
The voting figures published by Labour show that Sir Keir Starmer only won the vote on the party leadership election rule changes with union backing. In some respects that is a reversion to Labour’s past, when the leadership regularly used to rely on rightwing unions to outvote leftwing activists, although that is not a description of how the party is generally operating at the moment.
In the card vote on this rule change, the constituency Labour parties (CLPs) were 52.86% against and 47.14% in favour. But the affiliates (mostly the unions) were 60.2% in favour, and 39.8% against.
The EHRC-related rule changes were passed by 73.64% to 26.36%. There were significant majorities in favour amongst both the CLPs and the affiliates, but the CLPs were less supportive. Only 17.47% of affiliates opposed the changes,, but 35.26% of the CLPs did.
3.31am EDT
03:31
Good morning. Sir Keir Starmer won the vote last night on the internal Labour reforms that will require leadership candidates to have the backing of 20% of MPs, not 10%, stop registered supporters voting in leadership elections and make it harder for activists to trigger a reselection ballot in their local Labour MP. The changes were passed by 53.67% to 46.33%, which was closer than some expected, but it does go some way to compensating for Starmer’s failure to get the unions to back his plan to change the leadership election system more fundamentally (he wanted to return to the electoral college) and his allies are treating this as a significant victory.
In an interview for the Today programme this morning, Lord Mandelson, one of the main architects of New Labour and a Starmer supporter, was much more explict about what this might mean than Starmer himself, and his shadow ministers, have been. He said this was all about locking out another leader like Jeremy Corbyn. He said:
Jeremy Corbyn built on the rules that Ed Miliband introduced, which allowed hundreds of thousands of people to apply to vote for our future leader without actually caring about the Labour party, knowing about the Labour party and in many cases not even becoming a member of the Labour party.
That avalanche of people who were allowed in the Labour party to back one far-left candidates who they wanted to see elected leader will now no longer be allowed to happen …
What these rule changes mean, and this is perhaps absolutely fundamental for people out in the country, when they’re asked to vote for Keir Starmer as their next prime minister, they can know with almost complete certainty that they’re not going to wake up one day and find Jeremy Corbyn there instead.
Today the focus at the conference will be on Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, who will use her speech to announce plans to scrap business rates. Here is my colleague Jessica Elgot‘s preview story.
Reeves has been doing a morning interview round, and I will post the highlights soon.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10.15am: Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, speaks to conference.
10.15am: Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, opens the international debate. At 11am John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, will wind it up.
11.15am: Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow work and pensions secretary, opens a debate on the economy.
12pm: Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, delivers her keynote speech.
2.15pm: Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, speaks to the conference.
2.45pm: Steve Reed, the shadow communities secretary, opens a local government debate. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, speaks at 2.50pm, Nick Forbes, leader of Newcastle city council and head of the Labour group on the Local Government Association, speaks at 3.50pm and Joanne Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool, speaks at 4.40pm.
4.45pm: Louise Haigh, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, delivers a speech.
4.50pm: Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, Tracy Brabin, mayor of West Yorkshire, and Dan Jarvis, mayor of South Yorkshire, take part in a panel discussion.
5.10pm: Anas Sarwar, the leader of the Scottish Labour party, delivers the final speech of the day.
I expect to be focusing just on Labour today. For the latest in the fuel shortage crisis, do read my colleague Graeme Wearden‘s business live blog.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com
Updated
at 4.02am EDT
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish