The hottest ticket at Labour conference – after Andy Burnham’s speech – was an afterparty in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle, headlined with a set by the noughties girlband Sugababes.
asserted
ticket → headline → girlband
As Labour activists and ministers belted out the lyrics under pink spotlights, it was hard not to draw some parallels with the party’s recent history.
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it → belt → history
There have been painful lineup changes and a lot of internal division, but this week onstage in Liverpool, the originals are back together and they only played the hits.
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they → play → hits
The fans can’t get enough.
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fans → get → enough
Burnham’s own show on the main stage had the conference hall in raptures not because of Brexit or social care, but because of the display of raw emotion after the tightly choreographed repression of the last six years.
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hall → have → years
He may as well have walked across the stage with his feet crunching over the debris of shattered Ming vases.
uncertain
feet → walk → vases
The speech combined plans that had been forming inside Burnham’s head for the last decade as well as seat-of-his-pants political instinct.
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that → combine → instinct
On the morning of the conference, the prime minister took off early for a morning jog and then returned to make final amendments.
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minister → take → amendments
Even moments before he went on stage, he was still rewriting, aides said.
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aides → go → stage
About a quarter of the speech was entirely ad-libbed.
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quarter → libbe → speech
When Burnham was rehearsing the speech, aides said he knew he was going to cry when he got to the paragraph about his late father – he had never managed to get through any of the practice runs without tears.
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he → rehearse → tears
But the long pause as he composed himself was the most emotional he had been.
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he → compose → ?
Several ministers said they themselves had been moved to tears, including Ed Miliband, who had recently lost his own mother, as well as Louise Haigh and Anneliese Midgley, who are Burnham’s closest friends in government and the architects of his ascendancy.
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who → say → ascendancy
After his speech, Burnham gathered all his ministers for a private pep talk.
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Burnham → gather → talk
He said he knew they would not agree with everything – but with the aura of a general sending his troops into battle, he told them to “get out there” and fight for it.
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he → say → it
He said he would not send them out with “a pea-shooter” – they needed proper weapons for the fight ahead and he promised he would provide them.
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he → say → them
In the hallway outside the conference hall, minister after minister spoke with voices quivering with emotion.
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minister → speak → emotion
“This is all I have ever wanted,” one said.
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one → want → ?
Burnham’s was the first time many MPs can recall a speech that was pure political argument.
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that → recall → speech
And there was much in the speech that – in normal times – would have been a recipe for rebellion: Brexit, the triple lock, electoral reform and the lingering question marks over growth and defence.
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that → be → growth
“I found parts of the speech challenging if I’m honest,” one cabinet minister admitted.
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minister → find → speech
“It contained things I had always thought we should never touch or an argument about public control which I would previously have said was too backward-looking.
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I → contain → control
“But in the room I agreed with every word because he persuaded us, he made an argument and made me question myself.
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me → agree → myself
Even within the cabinet, there are those who grimace at the idea of electoral reform.
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who → be → reform
“But you know, he believes in it, and I’m going to swallow it,” said one.
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one → know → it
Burnham called his cabinet ministers in for a last-minute meeting just before the speech, where he laid out his private arguments and took their comments and feedback.
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he → call → comments
“I feel almost embarrassed admitting this, but that has never happened before with any other leader,” one said.
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one → feel → leader
On the sidelines of the conference, when cabinet ministers are at their most candid, they sometimes talk as if they have been through a kind of collective trauma – and the Burnham ascendancy has given them the release they need to confess how hard they have found the last two years.
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found → talk → release
There are close new friendships and alliances forged in the coup, which defy previously unthinkable factional lines.
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which → be → lines
“There’s the management-speak slogan – ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’.
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culture → ’ → breakfast
Well, this is proof-positive,” one cabinet minister said.
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minister → say → ?
“The past two years were utterly miserable, almost every single thing we achieved was poisoned by petty fighting.
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we → achieve → fighting
Every meeting was a choreographed exercise in pointlessness.
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meeting → choreograph → pointlessness
“Now we are discussing ideas and politics among colleagues who respect and like each other.
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who → discuss → other
I look back and I am so overwhelmed with relief that we did this.”
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we → look → this
Another cabinet minister said: “I wasted so much of my own bandwidth fighting over the most puerile things, or defending my own staff who were being made miserable.
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who → say → staff
Keir [Starmer] never dared to take it on.”
Even veterans of the Starmer years said they found themselves persuaded despite themselves.
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themselves → dare → themselves
“Feels like there’s something quite psychologically profound about daring to take on the triple lock and finding that the planes don’t fall from the skies,” Starmer’s former strategy director Paul Ovenden posted.
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director → feel → skies
Darren Jones, the ousted chief secretary who has made himself the face of the awkward squad, was also quick to lavish praise.
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himself → oust → praise
“[The speech] told the story of his politics and the type of Britain he wants to build,” he said.
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he → tell → Britain
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
