Labour officials wanted Jeremy Corbyn to ‘walk on water’ with a plan for him to address supporters from a floating platform in the sea, it can be revealed.
Organisers looked at holding an eve-of-conference rally on Brighton beach with the Labour leader standing on a raft off the shore.
But the idea – which would have drawn comparisons to both when Jesus walked on water and when he preached to crowds from a boat – was scrapped following concerns about tide times and unpredictable waves.
Instead the event was held in a skate park in the seaside city on Saturday evening.
One MP told the Daily Mail: ‘The events organising people wanted Jeremy to stand on a platform floating in the sea, near the pier.
Organisers looked at holding an eve-of-conference rally on Brighton beach with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn standing on a raft off the shore
‘He was going to stand offshore and the rally would take place on the beach, with Jeremy addressing the activists over a loudspeaker.
‘They got as far as looking at tide times. They thought it would make a great picture – JC literally walking on water, sort of.’
A source close to the Labour leader said: ‘We’re inventive but not that inventive.’
The 68-year-old veteran at the weekend said he wanted to serve 10 years in Downing Street – something which could keep him in power until the age of 83.
Addressing a crowd that chanted ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn’ at the rally on Saturday, Mr Corbyn said the ‘transformation’ of Labour under his leadership is just starting and his drive to give members more control over the party will help win power.
He claimed plans to give his grassroots support a greater role and ‘open up our party from top to bottom’ will help oust Theresa May.
Despite getting 54 fewer MPs than the Conservatives, the Labour leader claimed the June election showed a ‘thirst for real change across Britain’.
One MP told the Daily Mail: ‘The events organising people wanted Jeremy to stand on a platform floating in the sea, near the pier’
Corbyn is pictured today during the Labour Party conference with Tom Watson and Diane Abbott
‘We now have the chance to transform our country. To do that we must use our strength inside and outside Parliament to challenge the Conservatives at every step, and prepare to form a government whenever the next election is called,’ he said.
Mr Corbyn yesterday told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that the party was in ‘good heart and good mood’ after doing better than expected in the general election.
He said: ‘Our vote went up actually in all sections of a community by differing amounts, but our vote did go up to nearly 13 million. We put on three million votes in the general election.
‘The party is in good heart and good mood and the people of this country are utterly fed up with injustice and inequality, pay caps and lack of investment in public services.
‘That’s fundamentally the message we were putting forward. And the resonance we got was huge and I have to say every commentator wrote us off in April and in June they were eating their words.’
Ahead of the conference Mr Corbyn’s supporters secured an important victory in Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) over changes to the leadership election rules.
In changes expected to be endorsed by the national conference, the NEC agreed to a proposal to cut the number of nominations a candidate needs to run from 15 per cent to 10 per cent of the party’s MPs and MEPs.
The change is expected to make it easier for a left-wing candidate to secure a place on the ballot paper when Mr Corbyn finally steps down.
In a further strengthening of the left’s position, the party also increased the number of NEC delegates from members and unions.