Richard Littlejohn writes an opinion piece reflecting on significant Labour Party conference moments from his career as a journalist. He contrasts past transformative speeches by Jim Callaghan, Neil Kinnock, and Tony Blair with Andy Burnham’s recent speech at the Liverpool conference, suggesting that while the latter was well-received within the party, it may not resonate with the broader public outside the "hermetically sealed" environment of the Labour Party. Littlejohn argues for a more critical approach to evaluating such speeches, advocating coverage from an external perspective rather than being swept up in the enthusiasm inside the conference hall.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-02,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
My first TUC conference was in Brighton, in 1978, when ‘Sunny Jim’ Callaghan reneged on a promise to his union paymasters to call a snap General Election.
asserted
Callaghan → renege → Election
Having banked their cheques for his campaign war-chest, he mocked them in his keynote speech with a clumsy rendition of the old music hall song Waiting At The Church, about a jilted bride.
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he → bank → bride
He left them in the lurch.
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He → leave → lurch
That night in the hotel bars all hell broke loose, as the unions plotted their revenge.
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unions → break → revenge
Callaghan’s refusal to go to the country provoked the notorious Winter of Discontent wave of strikes against his attempts to peg pay rises at five per cent.
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refusal → go → cent
Rubbish piled up in the streets and the dead went unburied.
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dead → pile → streets
The resultant public disgust ushered in the Thatcher revolution and an unbroken 18 years of Tory rule.
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disgust → resultant → rule
I was there, too, at the Labour conference in Bournemouth in 1985 when Neil Kinnock finally summoned up the backbone to tackle Derek Hatton’s Militant Tendency head-on.
And also in Blackpool in 1994 when Tony Blair launched ‘New Labour’ with a pledge to scrap the sacred Clause 4 commitment to the ‘common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange’.
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Blair → summon → production
They have gone down in Labour history as transformative or treachery, depending on your point of view.
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They → go → view
Callaghan’s cowardice in postponing an election he‘d probably have won condemned Labour to almost two decades in the wilderness.
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cowardice → postpone → wilderness
Kinnochio’s crusade against Militant didn’t pay off, either.
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crusade → pay → Militant
He crashed to defeat by Thatcher in 1987 and to John Major five years later.
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He → crash → Major
The only truly transformative address was Blair’s decision to shed Labour’s socialist baggage, in the teeth of entrenched far-Left opposition.
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address → shed → opposition
He modernised the party and delivered three stunning election victories.
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He → modernise → victories
Andy Burnham poses as a ‘straight kinda guy’ to borrow from Blair’s self-estimation, writes Richard Littlejohn
So where will Andy Burnham’s ‘Back To The Future’ speech in Liverpool this week figure when the dust settles?
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dust → pose → Liverpool
It was received rapturously in the hall.
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It → receive → hall
The Boys In The Bubble showered him with praise, but much of the media has a tendency to get swept up in the contagious conference hysteria.
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much → shower → hysteria
A sort of Stockholm Syndrome sets in, a sense of proportion can be lost.
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sense → set → proportion
I admit, certainly in the early days, I wasn’t immune to conference fever.
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I → admit → fever
But by the time my nightly Sky News show ended in 2004, I concluded that the best way to cover any of these gatherings was from as far away as possible.
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way → end → gatherings
Inside the hermetically sealed conference centre, the politicians, delegates and pundits may feel they are at the epicentre of the universe.
uncertain
they → seal → universe
Outside, more people are watching Bargain Hunt.
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people → watch → Hunt
Blair’s genius was to go over the heads of the activists and appeal directly to the voters beyond.
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genius → go → voters
Whatever you think of Blair, Kinnock or even Callaghan, they at least had the courage to go against the grain, to tackle the vested interests in their party.
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they → think → party
Burnham chose cheap applause.
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Burnham → choose → applause
He was preaching to the choir, telling them what they wanted to hear, and to the Green and Lib Dem supporters he’ll need to stand any chance of remaining in Downing Street.
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he → preach → Street
I thought the way in which he milked his family background and exploited his father’s death was mawkish and distasteful.
We’ve all got a backstory we could peddle.
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we → think → backstory
Burnham told us his grandad worked on Liverpool docks and bought the house in which he was born.
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he → tell → which
My grandad worked on London docks and bought a similar home by the sound of it.
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grandad → work → it
I was born in my grandparents’ front bedroom, but that doesn’t qualify me to be PM.
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that → bear → me
Burnham’s dad was Labour through and through, as he kept reminding us.
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he → keep → us
My grandad, despite belonging to the stevedores’ union, voted Tory all his life and was so disgusted at the state of Labour’s Britain in the Sixties that he emigrated to Australia as a Ten Pound Pom.
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he → belong → Pom
Call me callous, and anyone who loses a parent deserves our sympathy.
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who → call → sympathy
But the place to grieve is in private, not to parade your grief onstage for political gain.
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place → grieve → gain
As the late columnist John Junor, formerly of this parish, used to remark: Pass the sick bag, Alice.
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columnist → use → bag
Burnham poses as a ‘straight kinda guy’ to borrow from Blair’s self-estimation.
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Burnham → pose → estimation
But his brief tribute to Starmer – ‘Thank you, Keir’ – was nauseating, especially when you consider he spent over a year scheming to stab him in the back and succeed him as PM.
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he → thank → PM
Britpop Burnham likes to sing along with the Common People.
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Burnham → like → People
He came from Wigan with a thirst for knowledge,
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He → come → knowledge
He studied English at a Cambridge College...
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He → study → College
…and 27 more, not listed.
The Aporia
