Jeremy Corbyn’s keynote speech to the Labour conference in Brighton this afternoon will be the crowning moment of a remarkable rise to power for the former backbench MP.
With so many old and new Labour activists caught up in the wave of pro-Corbyn enthusiasm, people inside the conference hall say the queue to hear him speak started at 10.45am this morning – three and a half hours early.
One steward told the BBC’s Ben Weisz it’s “the biggest queue she’s seen” at a Labour conference, while videos showed the line of those waiting for a seat snaking far through the building.
Mr Corbyn is expected to use his speech to pledge to put “kindness” back into British politics, as he begins unveiling the policies he hopes will launch his party’s electoral fightback.
Significantly, the first initiative Mr Corbyn will outline will be directed at small businesses, with a pledge to extend statutory maternity and paternity pay to Britain’s five million self-employed workers.
His speech is expected to strike a very different tone from that of his predecessor, Ed Miliband, and build on his campaign promise to “do politics differently”.
Mr Corbyn will read his text from an autocue for the first time in his public life. But it will be shorter than those normally given by party leaders at conference and, in a break with tradition, he will not be joined on the stage at the end by his wife Laura Alvarez.
His speech has been drafted over the last few days, largely by Mr Corbyn himself, assisted by director of policy Neale Coleman.
Aides said they did not know what he would wear for the crucial address, when he could face the largest TV audience of his life so far. He was pictured in The Times putting finishing touches to the speech – while wearing red socks and sandals.
