The adviser nodded when they said that it had been a competent and professional affair, but it was only when one reporter replied that it had also been "a bit boring" that he broke out into a big grin. "That's the right answer," he said.
After years of conferences being overshadowed by factional rows, and in stark contrast to the last two chaotic Conservative gatherings, this year's event in Liverpool passed by with barely a hitch, with the party leaving the city looking as if it was on the path to power.
Even the dramatic interruption of Starmer's speech by a protester who threw glitter over him worked to his advantage, as he removed his jacket and literally rolled up his sleeves to deliver what was widely regarded as his best speech yet.
Yet while the media may have felt the conference was uneventful, for Starmer's supporters it was anything but. The fringe events, speeches and receptions were packed to the rafters, with queues snaking through the venue and the cafes even running out of food.
An aide said the conference had been the biggest ever, with more than 18,000 delegates - larger than during the heyday of Tony Blair.
Peter Mandelson rubbed shoulders with the shadow cabinet, while Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and the singer Will Young appeared at the fringes. Sue Gray, the former civil servant and Starmer's new chief of staff, was a major presence, with some who spoke to her saying she was not especially enjoying the political melee - finding she had a lot of new people to meet and was not really relishing the limelight.
As the conference concluded, a shadow cabinet minister was ebullient about how smoothly it had gone, contrasting it with the "seven bins-worth of rubbish we saw at the Tories in Manchester".
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