Labour party conference
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Dominating Labour’s conference this year is speculation about if and when Tony Blair will stand down from the leadership and pass the baton on to Gordon Brown. Mr Blair himself seems in no mood to be hurried. Read the FT’s full coverage, together with pictures, comment and analysis.
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Blair tells unions to 'get real' after leadership suffers fourth defeat
Tony Blair has urged his trade union critics to "get into the modern world" as the Labour leadership suffered a fourth party conference defeat by activists worried by...
Rethink on planned UK terrorism laws
Ministers are rethinking controversial plans to create a new offence of “glorifying” terrorism amid concern that the proposal will need to be more tightly defined if it is to work in law.
Reid warns factionalism could destroy Labour
The Labour government could be destroyed by a return to factionalism and disloyalty, John Reid, the defence secretary, has warned.
Reid wraps up Labour party conference
John Reid, defence secretary, wrapped up the Labour party conference in Brighton praising the British military for their work in Iraq and elsewhere.
Blair signals change in spending priorities
Tony Blair has signalled that he expects the Treasury to unveil a significant shift in the government's spending priorities next summer in spite of Gordon Brown's announcement July that he would be postponing his next big review of public expenditure until 2007.
Leadership hit by defeats on health and pensions
The Labour leadership suffered an embarrassing double defeat when the party conference backed a trade union motion against the government's greater use of of the private sector in health care - and followed immediately with a motion attacking its pension policy.
Row as pensioner ejected after heckling Straw
Labour was forced to issue an apology to an 82-year-old delegate who was manhandled out of the conference after heckling Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, over Iraq.
Parents likely to get schools advisers
Parents are likely to be given access to personal advisers to help them choose schools for their children, Ruth Kelly, the education secretary, has indicated.
Blair signals desire to serve four more years
Tony Blair signalled his determination to serve as prime minister for several more years, warning the Labour party that “the battle is not yet won” to secure Britain's future.
Ministers call for dilution of union’s voting power
Senior ministers are advocating a rewrite of the Labour rulebook to dilute the voting power of trade unions after a massive defeat for Tony Blair over secondary picketing rights.
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Tony Blair and the Labour leadership have said how sorry they are about the 82 year old man rough-housed out of their party conference for heckling. You bet they are sorry. They’re sorry it was caught on camera.
