Tories and Labour would kill for unity shown at SNP love-in

Any dissent was kept well off stage in Aberdeen, with anti-fracking and land reform hardliners quickly voted down

There was genuine excitement on the conference platform. At last a vote that was close enough to require a count rather than a unanimous show of hands. A vote to challenge the SNP's anti-fracking commitment on the grounds that it wasn't hardline enough. It was also something of a surprise, as there didn't appear to have been any arrangements put in place for such an eventuality.

"Can we have some stewards please?" asked an astonished Susan Aitken, the session chair. Five minutes later some stewards appeared, and it was eventually agreed that the official anti-fracking position had been adopted. The extreme anti-frackers had been defeated.