THE VERDICT FROM THE FLOOR.......

I've been at Labour Party conferences where Gordon Brown has been cheered to the rafters. Until fairly recently, one might have expected a similar response from a TUC crowd delighted to see Blair's demise. But yesterday's ( expected) pronouncements on public sector pay , coupled with ( maybe not so expected) Blairite rhetoric went down like the proverbial lead balloon. The Prime Minister's speech got no standing ovation and applause lasting just 30 seconds. I have no doubt he will get a much warmer reception in two weeks' time when Labour convenes in Bournemouth. But Brown forgets the anger of the unions at his peril. He's now on a collision course with those who most wanted to support him. And it is entirely of his own New Labour making.