No, I didn’t think I’d end up writing about something that happened at the Labour Party conference on this blog either – but such is the world we live in. Yesterday, Greater London mayor and long-time Labour politician Andy Burnham was speaking at a fringe event where he started doing something highly peculiar.

He started complimenting a Tory government minister. Yes, seriously. Looking over possibly one of the most indifferent and incompetent governments to ever take office in Britain, he had nothing but praise for Michael Gove, saying “The thing about him is at least he does things. You may disagree with me, but he acts as a minister. He creates an agenda, and he then implements it.”.

Which came as something of a surprise to a room full of Labour activists. And then he said even more curious. Referencing Gove’s recent appearance at an Aberdeen nightclub, he mentioned the Tories were going to be in Manchester next week for their own party conference – before joking they would hold their own “Warehouse Project Haçienda style” event for his benefit.

Normally, the self-publicist that is Sacha Lord would be all over this – but he seems to have disappeared from social media over the past few days. I can’t possibly imagine why…