The beauty contest hasn’t even started, but at least two of the potential Labour deputy leadership contenders have been strutting their stuff on the TUC catwalk in Brighton.
In public and behind the scenes at the TUC conference, would-be candidates Richard Burgon and Alison McGovern were meeting and greeting the barons and the brothers – and sisters – in what looked like canvassing support.
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But this pair weren’t the only people who caught the eye in the Brighton Centre. Former Labour MP Sam Tarry – yes, really – Angela Rayner’s partner, turned up mid-afternoon.
He queued for his pass, visited a few stands in the exhibition area, and then chaired a fringe meeting on workplace rights.
He looked serious and a little sheepish, as well he might, and told the audience at his fringe meeting he wouldn’t be answering questions. No surprise there. But given the events of the past week, he was jolly brave to turn up at such a big public gathering.
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Earlier, Mr Burgon and Ms McGovern had been quick off the mark. The Labour Party hadn’t even announced the timetable for the election to succeed Angela Rayner when the pair – separately – strode into Brighton’s famous conference centre shortly after midday.
When Sky News asked Mr Burgon if he was going to stand, he replied: “What I think needs to happen is there needs to be a left candidate for deputy leader of the Labour Party.
“And by that I mean someone who voted for a ceasefire (in Gaza) and someone who voted against disability benefit cuts, because the deputy leader is meant to be the voice of members at the top table.
“Members, quite rightly, had a strong position on a ceasefire in relation to Gaza, a strong opinion on Palestine, and a strong position against the disability benefit cuts. As to who that left candidate should be, colleagues will discuss that.”
It was an answer that suggested Mr Burgon – MP for Leeds East, the constituency once held by that giant of Labour Party politics, Denis Healey – would very much like to stand.
First, though, he and any other candidates need to secure 80 nominations from Labour MPs, a high bar and one that was raised by Sir Keir Starmer in what was seen as a move to keep left-wingers out of the race.
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Senior union leaders have told Sky News that could restrict the number of candidates to four at most and more likely just three.
Left-wingers also claim it will be an outrage if the suspended welfare rebels are disqualified from nominating candidates.
Sky News tracked down Ms McGovern at a fringe meeting on the Employment Rights Bill. Asked during the meeting if she was going to stand, she replied: “Hold your horses on that one. It’s all a bit soon for that sort of thing.”
Like Mr Burgon, there was no denial. And later, invited by Sky News to be interviewed, she smiled and said: “I’m busy.” And off she went.
It was once said that politics is a cross between a soap opera and a spectator sport. If the soap opera in Brighton was the plotting in the Labour deputy leadership race, the spectator sport was TUC general secretary Paul Nowak’s fiery speech in the hall.
After accusing Labour of failing to deliver last year’s “Change” manifesto, he tore into Nigel Farage and launched a deeply personal attack on Robert Jenrick.
Note, first, that his most sustained attack was on Reform UK and not the Tories and, second, that he targeted Mr Jenrick and not Kemi Badenoch.
Mr Farage and his deputy, Richard Tice, said Mr Novak, were “right-wing con-men, lining their own pockets”. But they’re not alone, he added.
“No amount of TikToks, or Ozempic, or expensive haircuts will ever hide the inner ugliness of Robert Jenrick,” said the TUC chief. Harsh.
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But he had one more target in his powerful speech. “Benjamin Netanayu’s government is committing genocide in Gaza,” he declared.
That was language we hear from Labour left-wingers and other left-leaning opposition parties, but not from Sir Keir Starmer and his ministers. Not yet, anyway.
The day’s business ended with a speech from Ellie Reeves, who was Labour party chair until last week’s reshuffle and is now solicitor general. She’d obviously written her speech and didn’t want to see it go to waste.
By now, it was almost 5.30pm, and the applause for her speech was muted, polite at best. Truly, it was the graveyard slot for poor Ellie.
Next up, in the morning, it’s Labour’s Bridget Phillipson speaking from the platform. This time last week, it was due to be Angela Rayner. Enough said.
