Gordon Brown has ensured that nobody steals the spotlight from him at his first Labour Party conference as prime minister. For years, he made sure he shared the headlines with Tony Blair.

His speeches as chancellor were pored over by the media for signs of him mounting a challenge to his rival. Photographers watched his every move. Did he laugh at Tony’s jokes? Did he clap? B

ut now he’s in charge, Brown has told his ministers to keep their speeches to just seven minutes. All the more time for him. He spoke for 64 minutes in his opening speech and will take centre-stage again on Wednesday for a Q&A session, likely to last a while longer than seven minutes.

Tony Blair liked being star of the show but can anyone imagine him telling Brown to sit down after seven minutes? Maybe it’s part of Brown’s green agenda but ministers’ conference speeches fit on just a few sheets of paper.

So his chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling had about 10 minutes to discuss the Northern Bank run and remind us Britain’s economic fundamentals are sound. “Is that it?” asked the financial journalists after Darling wrapped up.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s speech on Tuesday took up just 3 1/2 sides of A4, meaning many of the big issues were simplified into language like “the world can be a very scary place”.

Nor are there any celebrity guests to outshine Brown. No Bono, no Bill Clinton. It’s not surprising that seasoned journalists are complaining about a lack of buzz and trying to create their own in the endless round of evening parties.