What really happened away from the cameras at the Labour Party conference?

There is a large underbelly to conference that is, well, mostly drinking, writes Jon Stone

What happens in Brighton stays in Brighton? Keir Starmer prepares his conference speech (PA)

After last year’s virtual meet-up, the Labour Party conference returned in full last week. The opposition party did not hold a meeting by the sea 12 months ago because of the pandemic, but with mass events back on the menu, this year they properly got into the swing of things.

Labour conferences are usually a strange experience at the best of times: scruffily earnest activists of all ages rub shoulders with people you recognise off the telly and even more people who wish you recognised them off the telly.

The festivities lasted from Saturday until Wednesday afternoon. I use the word festivities because that is what the conference largely is. If you take only a passing interest in politics you may not realise that you see the driest part of the conference on the news: the votes and speeches. But there is a large underbelly to conference that is, well, mostly drinking: at sponsored receptions and parties, or just pubs on the fringe where you can catch up with political friends you only see once a year.