Faye Brown, political correspondent at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool
As a long queue formed outside the hall where Sir Keir Starmer was due to deliver his party conference speech, I caught up with Tony Murphy MP to discuss what he wanted to see.
He represents the Wirral region, which is linked to Liverpool by two tunnels across the sea.
Indeed, he wants to see “light at the end of the tunnel”, but he also accepts the difficult legacy the Conservatives have left behind.
“You hear a lot about there being a light at the end of the tunnel. The whole point of the tunnel is that you have to go down before you can go up, and there are a lot of twists and turns, and it’s never a straight road. I think this is a good analogy.”
He said the meetings had been very positive and “most people accepted that no immediate action could be taken.”
“I’m hopeful it’s not all doom and gloom. We need optimism,” he said.
“They have worked hard to get elected. We don’t need division in the party. Let’s support them and see what they do.”
Will the Prime Minister be able to meet this moment in time?
Our political correspondent Liz Bates also shared how people were feeling ahead of the speech…
So far, the annual gathering has been a bit somber, plagued by persistent rain and muted enthusiasm for the administration’s prospects.
But there seems to be a bit of excitement building as Labour supporters wait to hear the party’s first Prime Minister speak for 15 years.
One person waiting in line said they were hoping for a positive, hopeful message from the prime minister, something that has been lacking since the start of his term.
Others have dismissed criticism of the party over changes to the winter fuel subsidy and donations from major donors, arguing that the job of reforming the country is more important.
Those who visited there to hear Prime Minister Tony Blair speak in 1997 admitted that the mood was not particularly “cheerful” at the time, but attributed this to the gloomy economic situation.
What was clear from the audience was that despite some initial missteps, the conference wanted the new prime minister to make the most of this moment.
