Labour’s  annual conference was a chance for Keir Starmer and his team to show the nation what they’ve achieved after winning last year’s general election, and prove they still have a chance of winning the next one.

It was never going to be easy, given Labour’s dismal poll ratings which show Reform well ahead. But Labour managed to make a difficult situation worse.

Here are five of the biggest conference blunders:

1. Declaring Reform UK “racist”

Keir Starmer knows that millions of people share Reform’s anger at small boat crossings, and concern about the high level of legal immigration. In fact, Sir Keir has said he’s also worried about these things. So why call Reform racist for promising to do something about it?

It’s meant that the Prime Minister faced a series of TV and radio interviews where he had to explain carefully that he didn’t think the average Reform voters was a racist, just leader Nigel Farage.

Back in the US Presidential election in 2016, candidate Hillary Clinton said supporters of her rival Donald Trump were a “basket of deplorables”. That insult simply made them more determined to vote for Mr Trump, and Sir Keir’s comments about Reform may only strengthen support for Mr Farage.

He also blundered by declaring Mr Farage an “enemy”. When right-wing politicians use that sort of language about political opponents, they are accused of encouraging division and even violence. Now, Sir Keir finds himself accused of the same thing.

2. No popular policies

Party leaders usually use their party conference to announce big policy ideas, and many Labour activists had been hoping Sir Keir would announce an end of the two-child benefit cap, which campaigners say is essential to cut poverty (although it would also be expensive).

But it seems Labour is still trying to make the sums add up. Instead, all we’ve had from Labour this year is a plan for an improved NHS app – probably a good thing, but not very exciting – and a controversial proposal for digital ID “cards”, which many people oppose. There was no big announcement about helping struggling families pay their bills, cracking down on crime or finally closing down those asylum hotels.

3. That ID cards announcement

It was officially announced on the first day of conference, and sparked predictable outrage.

The thing is, the Government isn’t planning to create cards at all. They are really proposing a new mobile phone app, where people can do things like access their tax records or apply for a new driving licence. All this stuff is already online, but spread across different websites. The idea of creating one app so it’s all in the same place isn’t so crazy. But in a desperate effort to appear tough, Labour made it sound like they are creating a police state.

4. The civil war continues

Former Labour leader Gordon Brown destroyed a Labour leadership rival’s chances with seven words, at Labour’s conference in 2008.

Mr Brown said: “This is no time for a novice.” That was all it took to show who was in charge.

But Labour’s event this year was dominated by speculation about how long Sir Keir could stay in the job, and whether Andy Burnham might one day take over. Sir Keir tried to end the threat by suggesting in so many words that Mr Burnham would destroy the economy like Liz Truss, but that just kept Labour’s civil war going.

5. Banning Owen Jones

Not everybody is a fan of Owen Jones, the left-wing journalist and campaigner who was a vocal supporter of Jeremy Corbyn and now launches furious attacks on Keir Starmer.

But Labour’s decision to revoke Mr Jones’s conference pass just makes it look like they are scared of criticism.