The protest on Sunday

CAMPAIGNERS who say more action is needed by the Labour leadership to tackle anti-black racism held a protest outside the conference gates on Sunday afternoon.

While leader Sir Keir Starmer said he had “ripped” anti-Semitism out of the party during his main conference speech, demonstrators said that there could be “no hierarchy of racism”.

The Campaign Against Afriphobia (CAA) has grown since the publication of the Forde report in July, which revealed abuse suffered by black members. It said the black Labour MP Diane Abbott had been “vilified” by Labour staffers on the basis of the colour of her skin.

The Labour Party has published an apology on its website, but the group protesting at the gates said this should have been more public and that recommend­ations made by QC Martin Forde must be implemented immediately.

One of its main organisers is Bunhill councillor Valerie Bossman-Quarshie, who said she would prefer to see black members sent letters of apology by the Labour leadership, rather than having to find a statement uploaded to the website.

“You can get an apology but it’s about how it’s done – I don’t think something going up online gives respect and dignity,” she said.

Sir Keir Starmer

“People need to feel their voices have been heard and there is no hierarchy of racism in the Labour Party. I campaigned for Keir Starmer, I gave my time [to his campaign] – it’s not about factionalism.”

Mr Starmer said in his online statement that he would “change the culture of the party”.

As the Conservatives ran into a series of a largely self-inflected catastrophes – an unpopular budget decision to cut taxes to the very wealthy and then a dramatic run on the pound – Mr Starmer ended the conference being talked about as a prime minister in waiting. Some of his pledges might not have seemed so strange coming from the hymn sheet of his predecessor in charge, the Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn, however – including a vow to renationalise the railways and create a publicly owned energy company.

“We will set up Great British Energy within the first year of a Labour government.” he said.

“A new company that takes advantage of the opportunities in clean British power and because it’s right for jobs, because it’s right for growth, because it’s right for energy independence from tyrants like Putin.”

The frontbench was less clear on whether it will ever join the RMT’s picket lines with more industrial action coming up this weekend.