THE standing ovation went on and on and on. So too did the hoots, whistles and cheers.

From where I was sitting I couldn’t see if Jezza was floating on air but he may well have been as the great socialist prophet soaked in wave after wave of adoration from the congregation of comrades at Battersea’s Grand Hall. The thing was he hadn’t even uttered a word yet.

A little bit of research informed me that the Victorian building on London’s Lavender Hill has been renowned over the years for radical politics; Emmeline Pankhurst, the famous suffragette, once spoke there. And the venue has also hosted boxing matches and ballroom dancing.

For the Labour election launch, of course, the jabs and punches were only going in one direction and no one was dancing to anything other than Jeremy Corbyn’s “the people versus the privileged” tune.

Just before the prophet arrived, the comrades, entertained by Northern Soul music, were on the edge of their seats in eager anticipation. One loyal socialist could be overheard berating Boris “f***ing Johnson” over something or other. The mood was set.

Then came the flow of Labourly love. After several minutes of wild acclamation, the chief comrade took to the lectern to speak. “We love you Jeremy,” shouted one devotee.

As Jezza progressed through his speech, the audience cheered and applauded at the end of each paragraph. At this rate, the launch threatened to stretch into the evening.

“Labour will put wealth and power in the hands of the many; Boris Johnson’s Conservatives, who think they’re born to rule, will only look after the privileged few.”

Lines like this were met with people shouting out “Yes!”. And at other times when the party leader asked if it was not too much to ask to end the Conservatives’ “great rip-off” on public services or that people should receive a pay rise, there was an equally forceful “No!” making the even feel like a religious rally.

Of course, the trick or treat launch provided Jezza with an open goal: Bozza’s “do or die” October 31 Brexit pledge. When the hairy Leftie referred to how the PM had insisted he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than seek a Brexit extension, one loyal socialist shouted out “hooray!”

The comradely uplift reached its height when Jezza mentioned Labour's great creation, the NHS, and his allegation of a post-Brexit “Trump sell-out”. When he declared the health service was not for sale the audience rose up and began to chant “not for sale, not for sale”.

The Labour chief warned his chums that the nasty Tories would fight “harder and dirtier” than ever before to cling onto power. When he pledged to take on the tax dodgers, the dodgy landlords, the bad bosses and the big polluters, Jezza asked the question: “Who’s side are you on?” and duly got the expected response: “Yours!”

There was more whistling and hooting from the Lavender Hill Mob when the socialist prophet declared: “Together, we can pull down a corrupt system and build a fairer country that cares for all.”

Arguably, Jezza’s best line came when he told the comradely echo chamber: “When Labour wins, the nurse wins, the pensioner wins, the student wins, the office worker wins, the engineer wins. We all win.” Not surprisingly, it prompted another standing ovation and more cries of “we love you Jeremy”.

After the prophet closed his speech with the pay-off line, “it’s time for real change,” the audience jumped up to offer more love and devotion to the great leader and, needless to say, ultimately broke into the chant of “oooooh Jeremy Corbyn”.

As Jezza was spiritually lifted up, insisting: “I love doing this job,” the key question to be decided is whether the adoration inside Battersea’s Grand Hall can be replicated across the country and convey the chief comrade into the Downing St hot-seat.