With the hail of bad freebie stories echoing the Mersey downpour, this looked set to be a less joyous conference than was due a party that had just gone from its worst defeat since 1935 to a stunning majority in one jump. But that victory was still in the air: the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, boasted there are more female Labour MPs than all the Tories on the opposition bench put together; and time and again people assail you with astonished tales of their local forever-Tory seat gone Labour – East Thanet, Colchester, Hertford and Stortford.

However, there is no escaping it: the freebies scandal soured the opening atmosphere. The FT splashed that public confidence and spending was spiralling down after the “‘Things will get worse’ before they get better” foreboding from Keir Starmer. No one disputes that Labour inherited a country in an abysmal state, but with too much “no jam today” it overdid the workhouse gruel. One wise headteacher told me that Labour’s task felt to her like taking over a failing school. And with polls sinking, the urgent task was to cast out fear with a breath of hope.

Waiting for the budget has become like waiting for Godot. With all ministers banned from announcements until budget day, still weeks away, media malice fills the void. Every seasoned politician should know this rule: feed the beast before it eats you. Senior Labour insiders admit they were unprepared for the gale-force daily onslaught: they lack an effective rebuttal attack dog to fight back every minute of the 24-hour clock.

Reeves’ task was to lift the despondency and let the sun shine in, and she did. She........

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