What harm has Liverpool defeat done to Starmer?

In theory, the annual conference is the Labour Party’s supreme authority.

- JOHN RENTOUL

Everyone has heard of Clause IV of the party’s constitution, which sets out its aims and values, and which was rewritten in 1995 to remove a commitment to “common ownership”. Less well-known is Clause VI, which declares: “The work of the party shall be under the direction and control of party conference.”

That is not how it works in practice, however, because the leader has so much power – especially if he (and one day no doubt she) has the support of a majority of members of the National Executive Committee (NEC).

The NEC is charged with running the party in between annual conferences, although in practice most of its power is exercised by the leader through the cabinet (in government) and shadow cabinet (in opposition).

So, who decides policy?

For much of the party’s existence, this tension between theory and practice has fuelled factional conflict as supporters of Tony Benn and, later, Jeremy Corbyn tried to translate their majority among delegates into control of the party machine.