Labour pains

Well, Brian got his pass (see below). Since then we've been flitting around the conference zone, handing out flyers to the likes of Harriet Harman and Rebecca Wade (editor of The Sun), consuming lots of coffee, the occasional pint or two, but generally behaving ourselves.

I'm not the first to comment on this, but the atmosphere is definitely subdued. And no-one - apart from the most blinkered Labour MP - is falling for the idea that David Miliband's speech yesterday was anything other than very average.

In fact I have just spoken to a former aide to Tony Blair and the word is that Miliband is no longer seen as the Blairite heir to Blair. Apparently it's ... James Purnell, the work and pensions minister.

Although, publicly, ministers and aides are trying to maintain a united front, insiders say the reality is very different. For example, I have just been told that Gordon Brown could be challenged even before the Glenrothes by-election. Personally, I can't see this happening - but the very fact that this line is being spun by people close to government shows the turmoil that Labour is in.

When I think back 12 months the difference is amazing. This time last year we were in Bournemouth for the 2007 Labour conference. Everyone was striding around, busy, busy, busy, mobiles clasped to their ears. Confident, purposeful, getting on with government - and just weeks away from a fourth consecutive election victory.

The following week, in Blackpool, I sensed that the Conservatives were enjoying themselves (for the first time in many years) but there was nothing to suggest that this was a party preparing for government.

A few weeks later Gordon Brown bottled the election and it's been downhill ever since.