STILL MORE TO DO

by RAY FLEMING
WHERE has he been for the past year? The Gordon Brown who addressed the Labour Party Conference yesterday afternoon was the man his supporters remember very clearly but had begun to think had somehow been lost. There will be time enough to puzzle over what led to Mr Brown's lost year. The hope must be that his performance yesterday is what we shall get in the next two years because it showed a leader on top of his form and with a number of new policy initiatives to give the electorate a sense that Labour has not run out of ideas. Clearly, most of those in the conference hall yesterday were delighted with the prime minister's speech; it should have put an end for the moment to talk of replacing him. The question, of course, is whether it will have made as favourable an impression in the country; quite rightly many doubters will delay any judgement until they see whether the sense of renewal evident yesterday transforms itself into resolute action in the coming months. The list of new and renewed legislation and projects given by Mr Brown was impressive and very much in line with his “fairness and caring” convictions.