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At the end of a conference that saw Labour tiptoe in the direction of a second referendum on Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn added an unexpected twist in his closing speech in Liverpool.
Addressing Theresa May directly, he said Labour would support her Brexit deal if it included "a customs union and no hard border in Ireland, if you protect jobs, people's rights at work and environmental and consumer standards".
The prime minister has already promised there will be no hard Border and her Chequers proposal includes guarantees on employment rights and environmental standards as part of a “level playing field” with the EU after Brexit.
She has repeatedly ruled out remaining in a customs union, however, so as things stand now, the Labour leader’s offer is unlikely to amount to anything.
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Corbyn will be in Brussels on Thursday to meet EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier as Brexit negotiations remain deadlocked over the Border backstop.
As the talks continue through October into November and perhaps December, customs union membership could prove to be the only way of squaring the circle May has created for herself over the Border.
Corbyn’s offer will, in any case, help to defuse criticism that Labour is determined to reject any Brexit deal and is seeking to reverse the 2016 referendum.
Divisions
The conference speech was his best since becoming leader in 2015, his relaxed, confident delivery reflecting the strength of Corbyn’s grip on the party. The Labour centrists who sought to depose him in 2016 either stayed away from Liverpool or stayed quiet if they were there.
The divisions over issues such as Brexit and the reselection MPs were instead between the leadership and the unions on one side and grassroots activists in the constituency Labour parties and momentum on the other. The unions have resumed the role they played within Labour for much of the 20th century of protecting the leadership from the membership.
The party is remarkably united on most policy issues, however, and Corbyn made an eloquent case yesterday for the transformative change Labour is promising. He framed the party’s policies to improve workforce training, revive high streets, build more houses and give renters better rights, and expand access to free childcare as a rejection of the “greed is good” philosophy that he blamed for the 2008 financial crash.
It is a message that can resonate equally in Remain-voting cities as in towns that backed Brexit in the old industrial heartlands far from London. And Labour in Liverpool showed a dynamism and clarity of purpose as well as a huge, young membership that other parties could not start to dream of.