Huge queue forms three hours ahead of Jeremy Corbyn's keynote Labour conference speech

Speech will be shorter than those traditionally given by party leaders at conference, and with limited policy announcements

Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn prepares for his first leader's speech in his hotel room in Brighton (PA)

By the size of the queue you would have thought it was a rock concert, but in fact it was a queue of people desperate to witness Jeremy Corbyn’s first speech to the Labour party conference as leader.

The queue covered three floors in the Brighton Centre venue, with delegates booking a spot in the hall by arriving as two hours before Mr Corbyn steps up to make his first ever party conference speech. Meanwhile seat in the media section are reserved strictly for editors, but expect plenty of hacks standing at the back.

But anyone expecting the usual razzmatazz build up and entrance of usual leaders’ speeches at conference will be disappointed. Mr Corbyn will not parade his wife, Laura Alvarez, onto the stage, as Ed Miliband did with Justine Thornton last year.

The audience will be treated to a rendition of Chairman of the Board’s Working on a Building of Love as Corbyn exits the stage – following on his choice of exit music from his summer rallies. We will have to wait and see what music he chooses for his walk-on music, if he opts for any at all, but don’t expect it to be as lame as Ed Miliband’s choice for his first speech as leader – A-Punk by Vampire Weekend, a band that had already lost popularity five years ago.

 

Corbyn’s speech is expected to be short of solid policy announcements, save for a pledge to extend maternity and paternity pay to Britain’s five million self-employed workers. He is set to outline how he intends to use his speech to outline plans for a “kinder, more inclusive” form of politics at Westminster and will hit back at his right-wing critics by declaring that he “loves” his country and wants to lead a party that backs “prosperity and success”.