He came, he saw, and they, for the most part, snored.

Alistair Darling almost succeeded in overcoming trade union antipathy towards the government over pay by sending the entire TUC Congress to sleep yesterday afternoon. In just 19 soporific minutes the Chancellor wove the spell of the Greek god Somnus on the trade union movement.

"Times are tough, but we will get through," he repeated hypnotically as he told delegates that he could not risk economic stability by giving in to demands for pay increases or a windfall tax on power companies.

One slight groan, a few shaking heads, and one or two off-stage comments, the kind of sounds people make talking in their sleep, was all he had to suffer as he made his reasoned and reasonable case for pay restraint.

If he had stopped then and tiptoed out of the hall the delegates would probably wake up today, rubbing their eyes to headlines of a barnstorming speech that had wooed a sceptical audience. But it was not to be. They had listened, now it was his turn to listen.

During the question and answer session delegates came back to rude life. Sue Alwyn, of Unison, spoke for the entire hall when she told the Chancellor that the government's pay policy was "totally unacceptable". She said: "People are facing the stark choice of either food or warmth this winter. We are expected to accept year-on-year real pay cuts and it's not fair and it's not just."

She had louder applause than the person whose job it was to answer the question. Mr Darling's reply was jeered - someone shouted "rubbish", someone else said "nonsense" during his passage on public sector pay going up. The delegates, some representing members facing fuel poverty, were beginning to feel sour.

Given the mood earlier in the week, when union leaders were spitting tacks at ministers and saying David Cameron would make a better leader, Mr Darling got off lightly in the lion's den.

As he replied to each question with his sleep-inducing repeat warnings about the world economy and stability and Labour's record in office, he seemed pleased to be listened to with good grace for the most part.

They might have listened but they weren't impressed. "It was a typical anodyne speech by a government minister," said Micky Nicolas, a delegate from the Fire Brigade Union, who tutted and shook his head at key passages of the chancellor's address. "The arguments on pay are well rehearsed on both sides now, it will come down to industrial action."

Mr Darling's droning warning on the economy and inflation did get through to delegates though, albeit they did not like what they heard.

"It was about as warm as a toaster that's been turned off for a couple of hours," said Paul Kenny, leader of the GMB. "The message was grin and bear it."