It is not often that people get moved by a Gordon Brown speech but a good few of those in the hall at Brighton found themselves swept along. Even some of the hacks were affected.
Somehow this time, Brown hit nerves where on other occasions he has missed them by a mile. And it was Gordon (not Sarah) who had this effect.
No it was not brilliant, it was not Blairesque in its delivery or sweep. And many of the announcements were fudged or old, such as that on the Post Office, which took us little further than we were already.
But on the vision and values stuff, it felt like it came from him. It felt like this was the inner Brown speaking at last. It was a speech that made simple points well about the difference between Labour values and those of the Tories, and about judgment.
The "mainstream majority" was what Labour represented, while the Tories were there for those already at the top. There was a personal element to it, but not too much of one. He talked of his values: "The values I grew up with in an ordinary family in an ordinary town."
He told people to dream big because small dreams did not change the world. Somehow it worked.
The one mistake, it seemed to me, was to trot out Sarah again at the start. Nice as she is, genuine as she is, it was Gordon everyone wanted to see and hear.
Her appearance made it look like they were holding Gordon off. We didn't need to hear that she loves him. It would be odd if she did not. It was Gordon's day, not hers, and he who pulled it off.
