One thing looks certain after Alistair Darling’s speech to
the Labour Party conference on Monday — he’ll be Chancellor of
the Exchequer for a while yet.

    Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to reshuffle his
ministerial team next week and there’s been a lot of speculation
that Darling could lose his job and be moved to another
department.

    The silver-haired finance minister has had a rough ride
lately. The economy is on the brink of recession and his
comments in a magazine interview saying the economic challenges
were the greatest in 60 years caused a furore and were blamed
for sinking the pound.

    But delegates at the Labour conference today just loved him.
They stood and clapped and then they clapped some more after
Darling hit out at unfettered capitalism and the huge payouts
given to bankers that he said helped cause the credit crunch.

    Darling looked genuinely embarrassed. He called for them to
stop but the delegates just went on. Besides modesty, the
finance minister had another reason for wanting them to stop.

    He had another type of conference call to attend to. A G7
one. The finance ministers and central bankers of the rich
nations club were having a hastily-arranged telephone chat at
1230 London time to discuss the latest bout of market turmoil.

    Given London’s position as one of the world’s top financial
centres, Darling could hardly miss out and he rushed off the
stage to get on with his G7 buddies.

    The crisis also looks to have cemented Darling’s position.
It would seem odd to remove the finance minister when the whole
world financial system is in the middle of the biggest upheaval
in a generation.

    With Brown making his economic experience a key selling
point, he needs Darling on side.