How do you know the Labour Party is normal again? Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham singing karaoke

The deputy leader was there, belting out the classics with Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, and, well, you absolutely love to see it

And so we must return to Angela Rayner. She started the Labour Party conference by calling the Tories “scum” and ended it with a karaoke rendition of The Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” and Oasis’ “Don’t Look Back in Anger”. Impeccable bookending. The stuff of party conference legend.

Oh sorry, you thought Rayner cared about the “scum” hoo-ha? Let me point you in the direction of that karaoke video, filmed last night at The Mirror’s party in Brighton. Rayner does not, it’s fair to say, look like someone unduly burdened by the tribulations of the past few days. The deputy leader is there, belting out the classics with Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, and, well, you absolutely love to see it. To borrow Emily Thornberry’s unimprovable phrase, “there may have been drink partaken”. You’d hope so.

Keir Starmer was at the same party but left the singing to others. Probably wise. He’d been heckled enough for one day. Nothing kills the vibe quite like someone shouting “Where’s Peter Mandelson?” just as the chorus kicks in. But the Labour leader did make a quick speech, in which he said, “you lot are just about done for the week, and you can have a really long, fantastic night”.

You’d have to say they deserved it. It’s been a good week for the Labour Party. The big hitters like Starmer and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves made impressive speeches, offering a proper alternative to voters, Andy McDonald huffed off, and the people who ended up looking weird were not, for once, those running the party, but those who no longer have a say in anything much at all. Whisper it, but the Labour Party is actually normal again. Relatable. Not stage managed, not afraid to shoot from the hip; but equally, not deranged.

To return, briefly, to last night’s karaoke. To see Rayner and Burnham, Starmer and Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth, all together in the same room, enjoying themselves, not actively wanting to gouge each others’ eyes out, feels like a departure from the bad old days for Labour, Seamus Milne lurking in a corner somewhere. Images matter and here was a room of politicians clearly in step, celebrating because the future looks a whole lot more optimistic for their party than it has for years.

Now imagine the same images but replace Starmer and Rayner with Boris Johnson and Dominc Raab, Ashworth with Sajid Javid. It’s hideous. Apart from the fact it would be buttoned up and stiff, the Tories would have absolutely no right to have a night off. They are currently leading a country in crisis. I’m sorry but you absolutely do not sing The Proclaimers when people are actually fighting with each other for a can of petrol on your watch. We literally cannot hit the road, Jack.

On Sunday, the Conservative Party conference gets underway. You sense the atmosphere will be altogether less joyous. And voters will surely start to think a lot harder about which party they’d rather be at – and with.