It was Labour’s “Sarah” moment. I knew that something was different when the comrades suddenly burst into wild spontaneous applause. It couldn’t be for Gordon and, indeed, it was Sarah who stood before us — calm, tranquil, beautiful Sarah.

The audience swooned. She said something gracious. The words drifted by on a cloud of scent. She told us how wonderful that other Brown, you know, the PM, was. “I am so proud that every day I see him motivated to work for the best interests of people all around the country,” she said softly, proudly, steadfastly, lovingly.

We gawped. This was better than Mills & Boon and Barbara Cartland rolled into one. Sarah was standing by her man. Indeed she was standing up before us for him. Now she fixed her steady eyes on us, her hair swinging gently around her face. “My husband, the leader of the Labour Party, your Prime Minister . . .” At this point she seemed to forget his name but then she remembered. “Gordon Brown!” He bounded in through the crowd as Your Love Keeps Lifting Me (Higher and Higher) blared out.

They kissed on the lips, a bouncy one. The audience clapped the kiss. Their love kept on lifting them higher. It was almost a shampoo advert. Now came another kiss. They stood before the audience, adoring lovebirds and suddenly not afraid to show it. I suspect I was not alone in hoping that their love would stop taking them higher soon. And so it was, for now the lovely and adored Sarah sat down. This was greeted with rapturous applause. But Sarah had given the speech of a lifetime and deserved it.

“You can see why I’m proud of Sarah,” said Gordon, with an almost goofy grin. “I’m very proud to be her husband.” They glowed for a bit and then Gordon got down to the heavy-duty business of saving the world and his premiership. The speech was 53 minutes long and had one real joke (it was about Harry Potter, he made the same one a few days ago).

There was also a humorous aside: “I didn’t come into politics to be a celebrity,” he said, weird smile lurking, “or thinking I’d always be popular. Perhaps that’s just as well.” This led to a ripple of laughter and, inevitably, applause.

The comrades wanted to clap. Indeed they wanted to stand. They began with a few partial standing ovations and then some crouching ones. But as the words flowed — and they really did flow most of the time — the comrades began popping up, like random pieces of toast. It was by far the most well- received speech he has ever made.

The content was vintage Gordon. He wants this to be the “British century”. He’s creating the “Something for Something” Britain. He’s invented something called the “New Settlement”. I loved this for it reminded me of his “Progressive Consensus”. Do you remember that? Now that’s given way to the New Settlement. So what was it? The details were vague. It was about hard work. It was about fairness. And, oh yes, under the New Settlement the markets and the Government are the servants of the people. I stopped listening at that point. It seemed highly unlikely.

The speech was so much better for the fact that Sarah was looking on lovingly. Gordon’s voice seemed softer. At times he almost choked up. Forget the New Settlement. This was the New Gordon, caring, giving, sharing, kissing. Then it was over and Sarah was again by his side, in her rightful place. Their love was lifting them higher, once again. The crowd went wild.

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