John Reid has made a wide-ranging address to conference, setting out his stall as an alternative leader to Gordon Brown.He made an impassioned defence of the government's terrorism policy, and appealed to Muslims, men and women, to tackle extremism in their community. He pledged to stand shoulder to shoulder with Muslims against those who attempt to shout down the voices of reason.
"If we in this movement are going to ask the decent, silent majority of Muslim men - and women - to have the encourage to face down the extremist bullies, then we need to have the courage and character to stand shoulder to shoulder with them doing it.
"We will go where we please, we will discuss what we like," he said. Last week Mr Reid was heckled by Muslims when he spoke at an Islamic centre in east London.
Earlier in the week, Tony Blair said that Reid's new national security legislation to be introduced during the next session of parliament will be one of the most important policy initiatives of recent years.
Commmentators have focused on the theme of leadership running through the Home Secretary's conference speech. Reid is seen as one of the favourites to stand against Gordon Brown for the leadership of the party.
If Reid was appealing to the head, the yesterday's speech by Education Secretary Alan Johnson appealed to the party's heart.
The former trade union boss is seen as another favourite of the stop Gordon campaign, and in his address to delegates he played heavily on the importance of education to the Labour movement.
He paid tribute to the efforts of unions to improve basic skills in literacy and numeracy amongst the workforce, with over a million adults receiving help. He described this skills gap as the legacy of 18 years of Tory neglect of education, and went on to list the achievements of Labour in government.
In a policy announcement that received strong applause from the delegates, he acknowledged that the education system has systematically failed children in care.
As conference closes, it seems that John Reid and Alan Johnson have emerged as the favourites to take on Gordon Brown for the leadership.
