At the Labour party conference in Brighton, Gordon Brown's speech was introduced by his wife, Sarah, for the second year in a row. Her introduction, in which she described him as her "hero", got a mixed response, as did the speech, but the consensus was that he would continue to be the party's leader come the election.

Policies announced include:

• A referendum after the election on an AV voting system
• Replacing the House of Lords with a largely elected second chamber
• Ten hours of free childcare a week for 250,000 two-year-olds from families "on modest or middle incomes"
• State-run shared houses rather than council flats for 16-and 17-year-old single parents
• A £1bn "innovation fund" to boost industry
• The creation of a Post Office bank
• No compulsory ID cards until 2015 at the earliest
• "Action squads" of police to help reduce antisocial behaviour; loss of benefits for parents whose children break their Asbos
• "Recall" for MPs in clear cases of financial corruption
• or misconduct
• A new National Care Service to "provide security for pensioners for generations to come"
• A commitment, enshrined in law, to allocate 0.7% of GDP to international aid
• Four new "low-carbon economic areas" to be created in time for the Copenhagen summit

The Sun newspaper announced that it would back the Tories in the next election, after 12 years of support for Labour - the longest period the paper has ever supported one party. The Sun is Britain's bestselling daily newspaper.

Crime in Scotland has fallen to its lowest level in 30 years. Overall, rates have fallen by 2%; violent crimes, sexual offences and vandalism have all become less frequent, but rates of theft and fraud have increased slightly.

The largest haul of cocaine ever seized by the Royal Navy was intercepted on a fishing boat off the coast of Colombia. The haul came to 5.5 tonnes, with an estimated value of £240m. The navy was working along with the US Coast Guard.

Transparency International reported on "persistently close linkages between business and governments" in its Global Corruption Report 2009. The organisation calculates that in the UK, politically connected firms account for about 40% of market capitalisation. By comparison, the level is roughly 80% in Russia.

Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister, faced the threat of arrest for war crimes as he visited the UK for the Labour conference. Lawyers representing 16 Palestinians requested an arrest warrant for his actions during the Gaza offensive of December 2008. It was decided the minister had diplomatic immunity.