Conservative Party conference: the mood

The notion of “the mood” of the Tory party conference is harder to judge nowadays, when only one in four people here are actually Tory activists. But those I do speak to are quite upbeat. They shouldn’t be, really: the polls are pretty grim, the IMF has today underlined the depressing economic situation. But this has nonetheless feels like a conference fizzing with life. Crucially, this is because of the fringes – not the conference hall. The conversations in the pubs and bars are about events people saw  outside the secure zone. Sure, you might get the odd person talking about Osborne’s speech – which was well-received – or making Boris jokes. Or even Andrew Mitchell jokes: at a CSJ fringe, I asked Iain Duncan Smith earlier about rumours that Mitchell will be made High Commissioner to Rwanda and he replied “I hear there are no gates in Rwanda”. The room loved it.