EXPECTATIONS were high when Ed "elbow in the eye" Balls bounced his way onto the conference podium.

One comradely delegate, clearly bored by the morning's contributions, was about to leave when she asked who was up next. When she learned it was the great socialist bruiser himself, she cooed: "Ooooh! I'm staying for this; it should be interesting."

Indeed, the Shadow Chancellor and his keynote speech raise expectations that he will put a large boot into those less than compassionate Conservatives. But it seemed for the most part, the Yorkshire terrier had left his aggression on the football pitch.

His main theme was responsibility, responsibility, responsibility. With Labour now 25 points behind the Tories on economic competence and with just eight months to go to the General Election, the Yorkshire MP has his work cut out.

On the one hand, he has to prove to the punters that he means what he says when he talks about "iron discipline" on the economy, hence the decision to extend for a year the real-terms cut in child benefit and to keep the welfare cap but, on the other, he has to convince the traditionalists that he is still on their side.

Underlining the difficulty was when the SC mentioned the child benefit cut and the welfare cap, which both drew boos from the conference floor

The only humorous interlude came when he told an anecdote about how Tory hate figure Michael Gove had dinner with Rupert Murdoch and, dismissing all other potential candidates, declared only George Osborne was fit to lead the Tories post-Cameron.

The mere mention of the Chancellor's name drew a choral "oh my God" from the delegates. Mr Gove, explained Mr Balls, later offered the excuse for his endorsement of Mr Osborne, claiming he had been a bit tipsy at the time. "Tipsy?" barked the SC, "he must have been completely legless." The comrades roared. They were back on side.

Given the lacklustre nature of the Balls speech, one can only think he was leaving all the plaudits for the more important Ed later today.

Hopefully.