Labour's annual national conference runs from this Sunday until next Wednesday. It will be the first conference of the self-styled 'King of the North', Andy Burnham, as Labour Party leader and Prime Minister. He will be crowned by delegates as 'King' of much more than just the North of England.

This will be a marked change from Sir Keir Starmer's first Labour Party conference as Prime Minister in late September 2024. Although Labour's victory in the general election of 4 July 2024 was widely regarded as a 'loveless landslide', what Starmer faced at the Liverpool conference just a few months later was far worse.

Recall that the theme of Labour's 2024 general election manifesto was 'change', with the consequent annual conference billed as 'change begins' and 'the work of change has begun'. Promises were made over national renewal with five national missions of higher economic growth, safer streets, cleaner energy, greater opportunities and a healthier society through improved public services.

But by the time of the 2024 annual conference, there had been some significant stushies over freebies and donations. Recalling the donation of expensive free spectacles from Labour Lord Waheed Alli, Starmer should have gone to Specsavers.

Then there was also the Winter Fuel Allowance backlash over the decision to means-test and cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners. Lastly, in typical bank-manager style of old, Starmer used his key conference address to defend strict fiscal discipline and painful upcoming trade-offs, rounding this off by telling us that things would 'worsen........

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