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Power and the People’s party

IT used to be that Labour came in only one colour: red.

Not any more. In today’s multicoloured political marketplace, you can opt for Blue Labour (a kind of Tory Labour), and also Purple Labour, promoted by post-Blairite modernisers. There will no doubt be a whole rainbow of colours at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool this week – environmental green, liberal yellow and black from the anarchist fringe. Some might argue that there is also Tartan Labour following the Murphy review, which has given the Scottish party a greater sense of its own identity. And, of course, there is still Brown Labour – composed of die-hard supporters of the former prime minister, such as the Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls and his wife, Yvette Cooper MP.