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Conference 2008
Lying with passion
The US vice-presidential debate, the ups and downs of Michael Gove plus all the rest of the news and views from the political blogosphere
No credible alternative
The Conservatives were supposed to be preparing for power in Birmingham. They were scuppered by events and their inexperience was exposed - Labour's civil war still looms
Waiting for David
Who was the kung fu panda? What's a pillow menu? These were the questions keeping Tories awake at conference. And then, finally, the "big guy" appeared
Blears joins the Tories
Surprise in Birmingham as government minister Hazel Blears turns up at the Tory conference only to sense a whiff of hubris. Well more than a whiff...
Sombre Tories
'The mood has been somewhat sombre as the first priority is to ensure stability in the banking and financial system' - Grant Shapps on this year's Tory conference
Cameron's liberal lie
After two and a half years of working for the Tories, including being press officer and believing in Cameron's Liberal Conservatism, Ashish Prashar realised the party's just the same as it always was - white, rich and elitist.
Yet to seal the deal
Manchester was a brutal and sometimes chaotic week, but the prospects for the forthcoming Conservative conference are altogether different ... but they're taking nothing for granted writes Eric Pickles
Nuisance caller?
Plans to telephone 250,000 people using a recorded message from Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg have been thwarted. Just as well in a party that has fought nuisance calls, argues Jonathan Calder.
Go fourth the stickers proclaimed
Just what have the bloggers been saying in the week Gordon Brown pulled back from the brink...
'Muted optimism' is the theme
The Tory conference will be a sober affair: any signs of hubris are to be nipped in the bud
Trouble in Manchester
The RSA's Matthew Taylor on the whispering cabinet minister, an antagonisic local and the train that doubled as a fridge
Miliband: We can win the election
Foreign Secretary David Miliband urges Labour to defend its record, be candid about its strengths and weaknesses and show why David Cameron's plans are the new con. Plus the RSA's Matthew Taylor on trouble in Manchester
Hacking Sarah Palin
Not often getting many thrills, the Lib Dems were keen to have tuppence worth on the conference scrap plus hacking Sarah Palin's Yahoo...
Democracy is the loser
The rebels' tactics may not produce a challenger to Brown, but the point has now been made that the party is anti-democratic
Interview: James Purnell
Saviour of Labour or dangerous Thatcherite? James Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary, talks to Martin Bright about capitalism, the leadership battle and winning back the voters
The scapegoat
The party could have been in no doubt about what it was getting when Gordon Brown was elected unopposed. But for all the backbiting no one is offering an intellectually inspiring new political idea
Go fourth
John Prescott, Alastair Campbell, Richard Caborn and Glenys Kinnock call for the party and its supporters to get off the back foot and join a new Campaign for a Labour Fourth Term
Leader's speeches they won't be making
Bring your cooks and your personal trainers, your butlers and your heiresses. Because new Labour is the natural party of ambition
Empowerment: The new political territory
Gordon Brown talks of placing power in the hands of people themselves, but a splurge of Whitehall initiatives points in the opposite direction. A half-in, half-out approach won't work. Uncertainty must make way for clarity
Andrew Stephen
President Cheney?
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