Political column

This is not New Labour but new Labour, the party which Jezza is presenting as the party of the majority, the party of common sense, the party that has caught the new mood.

A confident Jeremy Corbyn can rarely have had an easier ride. They loved him as he delivered his leader's speech at the close of the party conference.

It was all in there. A sincere and sympathetic plea to the Jewish community. Standard swipes against the Tories. A few jokes. Poetry from some chap called Ernest Jones from the 19th century (I quickly looked him up on the internet, and one of his poems is called "A Song for May").

Mr Corbyn even mumbled something about the Russian state being to blame for the Salisbury nerve agent attack, before regaining his enthusiasm and working up to an assault on Donald Trump.

And, at last, we found out what Labour's policy is on Brexit.

You may have had the distinct impression that it is to sabotage any EU deal, come what may, as a mechanism to trigger a general election which gives Labour a stab at getting into office – all in the national interest of course.

But no! That was earlier this week. Thanks to Mr Corbyn we found that Sir Keir Starmer had almost got it as wrong as John McDonnell.

Jezza reached out to Prime Minister Theresa May.

"I reach out to everybody," he declared amid laughter.

"I say this to her in all sincerity and helpfulness," he said insincerely and unhelpfully.

"If you deliver a deal that includes a customs union and no hard border in Ireland, if you protect jobs, people's rights at work and environmental and consumer standards, then we will support that sensible deal... but if you can't negotiate that deal, then you need to make way to a party that can and will."

(Long standing ovation, chants of "oh Jeremy Corbyn.")

I think these must be those elusive "six tests," also termed, in the words of Barry Gardiner, *******s tests.

Mr Corbyn said leaving the EU without a deal would be a national disaster. If Parliament voted down a Tory deal or the Government failed to reach any deal, Labour would press for a general election.

"Failing that all options are on the table," he added quietly, almost as an afterthought.

Any we all know what that means. It means anything you, or any Labour politician for that matter, want it to mean. To Labour MP Laura Smith it means calling a general strike to topple the Government. It seems that "all options" does not include that particular option and she was going off script, although no doubt colleagues feel her heart is in the right place.

"We represent the new common sense of our time and we are ready to deliver on it," asserted Jezza.

His first standing ovation of the afternoon (apart from walking in the hall in the first place) came when he extended the hand of friendship and reassurance to the Jewish community and condemned anti-Semitism.

Mind you, he wouldn't take any lectures on racism from "Tory hypocrites."

As a leader, Mr Corbyn has pioneered an innovative follow-me-I'm-right-behind-you approach, but he did have some specific policies to announce, or rather announce again as they had already been widely reported.

There will be 10,000 more police officers on the streets, 30 hours a week of free child care for children aged two, three and four, and 400,000 new energy jobs as part of a "green jobs revolution."

Foreign policy, which has not exactly been his strongpoint, would be "progressive" with an emphasis on human rights and diplomacy. Echoes of Robin Cook.

In the Middle East, as soon as he took office Labour would recognise a Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution.

Another standing ovation for that, and a Palestine flag was waved. And before you ask, no EU flags were visible – stewards had seemingly banned them.

Back to Brexit: "The Tory Brexiteers unite the policies of the 1950s with the economics of the 19th century, daydreaming of a Britannia which both rules the waves and waives the rules."

He blamed the financial crash of 10 years ago on the culture of greed-is-good capitalism.

His rousing ending was: "Our task is to build Britain, build a Britain together, build a Britain for that security together. And we can! Thank you conference!"

That was it then. A yes-we-can Jeremy Corbyn, Prime Minister in waiting.

Follow that, Theresa May.