A WEEK is a long time in politics, as the old saying goes, but two weeks really can change the weather.
When Parliament returned from its long summer break, Labour MPs were cock-a-hoop and Tory ministers were despairing.
Twenty points behind in the polls, most Conservatives moping around the Commons were convinced the game was up and next year’s election a foregone and bloody conclusion.
Sir Keir Starmer pulled off a slick reshuffle of his top team, and after a washout August of Government chaos on the borders and in the classrooms, there was only one team that were smiling: the reds.
But as MPs slope off again for the party conference season – likely the last before the country goes to the polls – it’s the blues that have a spring in their step.