It lasted no more than an hour, but boy what an hour. Yesterday Gordon Brown was stuck in an East London meeting hall with a group of Labour party activists, all of whom were free to speak their mind on whatever subject took their fancy, and for the entire duration of the meeting no one called on him to resign, or thanked him for his contribution but suggested perhaps it was time to make way for someone else. Not one. Mr Brown is probably thinking of venturing out to there more often.
You could tell it was doing him some good, because he even managed to make a couple of half-decent jokes. He apologised for his wife’s absence and explained that no, she hadn’t resigned, she was at a charity event. And he said that he had learnt something new about Lord Mandelson: “I did not know that 18 months ago he became an expert in e-mails and texting.” Considering what his reaction must have been when he read about the e-mails Lord Mandelson sent last year about him being insecure and self-conscious, he managed to deliver the line without gritting his teeth and looking totally furious.
You could tell the meeting had been arranged at short notice, because one local councillor mentioned how his plans for the afternoon had been disrupted but added that he was quite delighted to be there. He made it sound like one of those North Korean rallies where they all turn out to praise the Dear Leader.
Unfettered loyalty was perhaps always going to be the order of the day. No one was going to step out of line with the television cameras there, and if they did Lord Mandelson was on hand to give any transgressors the Death Stare.
Having everyone be nice to him — and, even better, calling his parliamentary critics “self-indulgent” — seemed to do the Prime Minister a power of good. He spoke with warmth and passion, and didn’t once look like the scary man on YouTube. When he said that Labour wouldn’t walk away from people who needed help, they gave him a big round of applause.
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What a great audience. You could almost see him thinking, “I wonder if anyone here wants a job in the Cabinet?”
There were, however, occasional reminders of the nasty world outside. He told an innocuous story about “one of my ministers”, but did not mention a name. Why not? Have they resigned already? Has he sacked them? Or maybe he just wasn’t sure whether anyone had handed in their notice while he had been talking. It’s all happening at a blistering pace out there, you know.
Towards the end, a woman union official mentioned that she was going to her first Labour Party conference this year, and said that she hoped to see him there still as Prime Minister. Steady, comrade. He’s still got to get through today. And tomorrow. And the next day . . .