IT wasn’t a bad speech. In fact, it was pretty decent, with some interesting – if typically vague – proposals.

But the truth is that Gordon Brown’s speech was never going to change the mood of the country overnight. Voters made up their minds about Mr Brown a long time ago and there wasn’t enough warmth or substance in yesterday’s performance to make a material difference.

Promises of a referendum on electoral reform and the power to recall errant MPs go at least some way towards satisfying the public appetite for change in the political system.

And there was yet another promise of a fresh crackdown on anti-social behaviour. There have been so many fresh crackdowns over the years that their electoral value has gone stale.

Mr Brown’s most persuasive message yesterday was that he had acted “decisively and immediately” as the economy teetered on the brink of collapse, while the Tories called it wrong.

An economic recovery over the next eight months, coupled with doubts about whether the fragile economy would be in safe hands with David Cameron, would underline that message and offer Mr Brown his only realistic chance of victory.

But despite the Prime Minister’s best efforts yesterday, it remains a slim chance.

There was warm applause, of course, from the party faithful – but what else could they do?

Perhaps the most telling indictment of Labour’s fortunes under Gordon Brown is the fact that the party has found warmth and hope in a very strange speech from Peter Mandelson.

To coin a phrase, things can only get better.