Owen Jones’s customary Tory Conference video has just come out, which includes a rather amusing clip of him asking Tory grandee Lord Ashcroft whether he trusts Boris. The response took Jones and Guido by surprise…

Always a conference highlight, iNHouse Communications’ Toryoke did not fail to disappoint last night – with journos, SpAds, and MPs busting moves and straining their vocal cords. The very merry crowd presumably included some former Bullingdon Club members with the amount of smashed glass about. That or some of the singing was more atrocious than Guido can recall..

The assembled crowd were treated to Sky’s Beth Rigby throwing some serious shapes alongside the BBC’s Vicki Young in an impassioned performance of Katy Perry’s Roar. Watch it here…

Bim Afolami showcased his singing talent alongside the Sunday Times‘ Caroline Wheeler with an heartfelt rendition of Time After Time:

Also unforgettable was the Mirror’s Pippa Crerar leading a cheeky but amazing performance of Things Can Only Get Better. Sadly Guido was too busy singing along to film it…

There’s a reason the queues stretched round the street…

The police had to be called to the Tory Conference’s international stand roughly twenty minutes ago to investigate a supposed fracas. Video shows officers entering the lounge and then moving press and onlookers away from the incident.

Police moving press away from incident pic.twitter.com/pYAGnR0zEI

— Alex Cadier (@alexcadier) October 1, 2019

A Norwegian MP inside the stall informed Guido that no internationals were permitted to leave the lounge and the police had had to be called over a “misunderstanding”, however there are rumours there was a fight.  Developing…

UPDATE: Reports that the fracas involved 1922 Committee member, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP…

The Manchester Police released the following statement:

UPDATE II: Clifton-Brown has now been booted out of Tory conference pending further investigation. Not exactly the headlines CCHQ were hoping for on ‘law and order day’…

Expelled Tory MP David Gauke has been spotted arriving at the Raddison Blu hotel just outside the Tory conference secure zone – despite having just voted against allowing a recess for the conference. Fellow expellee Dominic Grieve has also spent a couple of days doing fringe events – including one with Jacob Rees-Mogg. They clearly can’t resist the attention…

Gauke has three fringe events scheduled, including one tonight with fellow expellee Dominic Grieve on why a no deal Brexit would be bad for the country; however Guido has been tipped off a group of pro-Brexit young Conservatives plan on gatecrashing the event to heckle. Wonder whether Gauke and Grieve will regret turning up after that…

Despite Parliamentary plotting, Tory MPs aren’t expecting to have to rush back to Westminster today, or indeed the first half of this week, senior government sources tell Guido. The expectation is that there will be more hot air in the commons, with no substantive votes without significant warning. Opposition MPs need to take over the order paper a whole day in advance in order to pass new legislation, giving Tories plenty of warning…

Labour for now seem to be sticking to their word of not tabling significant motions. Just one statement has been confirmed for 2:30, and there are no urgent questions. At this rate they could have just granted a short recess…

Meanwhile Parliament’s ever impartial speaker is taking the opportunity of Tories being away up north to hold a meeting of party leaders this afternoon, without Boris. Plenty of plotting going on but not much action. The combination of Bercow, Corbyn, Blackford, Swinson, Lucas, and Soubry sounds like the worst dinner party ever.

Ultimately there are limited options the opposition has in the Commons to cause chaos for Conservative Conference. See Guido’s handy list here…

• Urgent Questions – these have the advantage of forcing a particular minister back to Parliament, but
• Seizing the order paper in an emergency debate under Standing Order 24 – advantage of a comprehensive way to pass new law (votes at 16 was being touted), 24 hours notice gives plenty of warning to the Tories.
• Vote of No Confidence – nuclear option, being touted for Wednesday perhaps in an attempt to wreck Boris’ speech. Remains unclear whether the Government would want to win or lose it…