Chris Mason

The atmosphere.

Oh, it was... Yeah, no, it was... It was packed.

So it was at a place just south of the River Thames, not far from Westminster.

It was packed.

I tell you what it reminded me of.

I know newscasters like a little kind of historical canter.

It reminded me of 2003 and Ian Duncan Smith as a Conservative Party leader in a lot of...

from his own side and gave a conference speech where the famous quote about the quiet man turning up the volume.

And it reminded me of that.

Yeah, it reminded me of that for two reasons.

One, because what Ian Duncan Smith attempted to do in that speech was speak in a manner publicly that he often didn't.

There was a bit more oomph and energy there.

But it principally reminded me of that because of the reaction of those in the room.

There was an authentic desire, because clearly the people in the room were really keen on Keir Starmer and wanted to support him, to give him long ovations, long applause, big cheers.

Out of kilter, apart from the fact that clearly his back is right against the wall.

So there was a real sense of trying to will along someone who was in a...

and still is in a very vulnerable position.

Yes, we were scanning the room.

We were seeing who we could grab to talk to afterwards.

There weren't many sort of senior Labour figures there.