Sending them home happy

Labour's conference has just wrapped up with the traditional singing of the party anthem the Red Flag. Thankfully copies of the words were on hand to avoid embarrassment for those cabinet ministers not confident enough to do it by heart.
Earlier this morning - after Ruth Kelly bade her conference farewell, amid intrigue over how news broke in the early hours that she was leaving the cabinet - we saw two of the cabinet heavyweights from Yorkshire taking centre stage.
Health Secretary and Hull MP Alan Johnson and Gordon Brown's ally Schools Secretary and Normanton MP Ed Balls often have their names thrown into the ring when talk centres on future Labour leaders, and today's performances offered a glimpse into their contrasting leadership styles.
Mr Johnson, a favourite with many of the grassroots, earned a warm reception for his speech, delivered standing at the podium.
Mr Balls, meanwhile, decided to test his memory. He's the first minister I've seen at this conference deliver the speech without either a paper copy or autocue in front of them.
Almost Cameron-esque, some might say, although aides are quick to point out he has done similar performances at teaching conferences in the past. And he had spent half of his speech laying into the Tories in a plea for party unity.
Notably, at 20 minutes long, Mr Balls' speech was more than double the length of other cabinet colleagues who have been allowed less than ten minutes. The other point of note was that Mr Balls also received a lengthy ovation - he still may not be every delegate's cup of tea but his Tory-bashing message seemed to go down pretty well.