The Conservatives might be wishing they could have held their party conference before Labour.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's address to his party conference in Brighton on Tuesday has thrown down a flood of new ideas, policies and initiatives from faster cancer diagnosis to choosing how Britain votes in what read more like an mini-election manifesto than a speech.
Brown played to his strengths (policy) and avoided trying to overcome his well-known weaknesses (not much of a political entertainer) in public. Trying to be someone else could have been a disaster for a man way behind in the polls to the Conservatives.
Whether it will be enough to make any difference to the polls remains to be seen -- Labour needs a miracle there after all.
But, for now, going for the policy jugular seems to have done the trick -- giving his browbeaten party something to get excited about and hitting the Conservatives where it hurts.
David Cameron's Conservatives have been accused of not giving enough detail on how they would govern the country if the polls are correct and they are to win power next year.
They will have to start showing their hand soon if they are going to convince voters that they have the ideas to run the country and aren't just a vote for change for the sake of it.

-Member of Parliament Stephen Timms is the Financial Secretary to the Treasury. The opinions expressed are his own.-

I’m heading to Brighton to join colleagues from across Government, the Parliamentary Labour Party and grass roots Party members from across the country.

Exhibitors, media teams and lobbyists make up the remainder of those who attend the Labour conference each year. I’m especially grateful to the hotel staff, volunteers and police officers whose services ensure this event runs smoothly and safelty.

The conference brings the Labour movement together.  Delegates can question Ministers face to face, offer suggestions and explore policy options.  Ideas discussed on the conference floor or in fringe meetings may find their way into a White Paper or manifesto pledge.

Every Conference is unique but this year will highlight key decisions facing the country.  We need to remember where we were a year ago.  Lehman’s had collapsed, credit was drying up, major banks threatened, with the world facing its biggest economic crisis for over 60 years.

Bold decisions since then have had a clear effect, with signs the economy is beginning to recover.  Due to decisive action taken by the Government and the Bank of England, up to 500,000 jobs have been saved.  Labour delegates, however, will demand we continue to provide more help for people to get back to work.

Alistair Darling has been at the forefront of these historic decisions.  On Monday, he will speak about our commitment to cut the deficit in half over four years. On recovery and growth, he will argue it must be delivered through targeted and sustainable low-carbon investment.

Gordon Brown will speak to Conference on Tuesday. His action has helped guide both the UK and other G20 nations during this crisis. So he will now set out plans for a post-crisis society.

In education and health, he will say that reforms must ensure high standards are a guarantee and not a gamble. On family life, he will say affordable childcare and care for the elderly will be protected.

Of course Party Conference is about policy - but its also about politics. Delegates will highlight the risk the Conservatives represent. Their proposed immediate, and ideologically driven, £5 billion cuts will threaten our fragile recovery. Meanwhile, the same ideology offers a £200,000 giveaway to the 3,000 wealthiest estates.

Labour however will fight hard for ordinary working people. We will, on their behalf, tackle crime and the fear of crime. The Tories talk tough on crime but they would weaken the use of DNA evidence and make cuts to the Home Office budget equivalent to 3,500 fewer police.

That kind of change is risky change and will not be acceptable to delegates or ordinary voters. Conference this week gives Labour the opportunity to set out its vision for a post-crisis recovery, while highlighting how the Tories would put it all at risk.

-Jill Kirby is author of “The Reality Gap” and director of the Centre for Policy Studies. The opinions expressed are her own. -

In the midst of an economic crisis, we have a crisis of trust in politicians. But it is not through their lack of activity. Over the last ten years, layers of government have multiplied, more regulatory bodies have been put in place, thousands of new laws have been passed and greater powers of surveillance have been accorded to the State.

Yet as government activism has increased, so public confidence has fallen. High levels of regulation co-exist with extreme regulatory failure. From the banking crisis to Baby P, Labour had introduced elaborate new systems of governance which, far from preventing disaster, appears to have contributed.

How has government become so big and yet so ineffective? Five techniques have been used to disguise failure as success. First, moving goalposts - changing the criteria for measurement. In the dilution of education standards, in the selective us of targets and statistics, in the manipulation of public finances and Gordon Brown’s flexible use of the so-called Golden Rules, the Government has relied on bending the rules of the game in order to claim success.

The reality gap widens; public disbelief and disillusionment set in. The media begin to challenge the Government’s version of events. And ministers cast around for new ways ] to convince us that life has got better – like putting targets into law. This is technique number two.

Having failed to meet all its (redefined) intermediate targets to abolish child poverty, the government is now legislating for its abolition. No-one seriously believes that this – or the targets in last year’s Climate Change Act - can be met, but opposition politicians are unwilling to challenge them.

The third technique is to treat governing as a public relations exercise. Every department publishes a stream of glossy brochures in the guise of departmental reports, consultation papers and “business plans.” The Treasury’s Budget Report used to appear in plain covers.

Now it’s called “Building Britain’s future.” The Home Office alone has ten documents listed on its website as “Corporate Publications.” We are not told how much all these brochures cost the taxpayer – but the figure would dwarf the 400 million pounds officially spent last year on government advertising.

Technique number four is the collection of vast quantities of data. Another form of virtual activity by government and its agencies, it places a huge burden on social workers, school and NHS staff, the police and probation service. The fact that data has been collected does not mean it is used effectively; it simply creates the appearance of compliance. It also crowds out human contact and common sense.

The fifth and final technique, overlaying all the rest, is complexity – of systems and language. From the elaborate structure of our tax and benefits system to the maze of procedure in children’s services, with its “multi-agency partnerships” and “consensual decision-making.” With benchmarks and beacons, learning pathways and person-centred planning, most government documents require translation into plain English before their significance can be assessed.

This Government has proved that more means worse. The only answer is a serious reduction in State activism: cutting the size of government and its departments, abolishing targets, freeing up public services and charities, axing databases. If a new government can disavow the five techniques outlined here (and learn to live without them) the age of spin will truly be over. But learning to let go will not be easy.