THOUSANDS descended on The Level as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn kicked off his party’s conference with a stirring speech.

After being introduced with a touching speech by a close friend from his days as a Haringey councillor as “my comrade, my friend and my leader”, Mr Corbyn smiled out over park on Saturday evening as a familiar “oh, Jer-e-my-Cor-byn” refrain rang out.

The biggest cheer of the evening came when he praised the general election campaigning efforts of young people, saying: “We were not going to let them take away the hopes of a generation with their meanness, nastiness and austerity-led politics.”

The evening had begun as the sun went down over The Level and a crowd of around 2,000 coalesced around the stage - complete with lights and DJ - which the party had set up at the northern end of the park.

Jeremy Corbyn is sometimes accused of wanting to take the country back to the 1970s. But it was 1960s all the way on Saturday, as the strains of Twist and Shout, Do You Love Me and Shake a Tail Feather rang out in advance of the first-ever eve-of-conference public rally to be addressed by a political leader.

One or two of the warm-up speakers slightly lost their crowd with earnest proclamations of the importance of voting thresholds and Labour party rule changes.

But Shadow Chancellor, who told the crowd “and I’ll tell you a secret - I’m going to be the Chancellor”, drew big cheers with a promise to scrap tuition fees.

The crowd roared when Labour National Executive Committee member Andi Fox said, recounting Labour gains in June’s general election: “And best of all we beat the Tories right here in Brighton.”

Then it was time for the leader to take the stage. If he was disappointed the crowd was rather smaller than the hordes he got used to addressing on the campaign trail or at Glastonbury, Mr Corbyn did not show it. From the first rough gravelly syllables he grabbed the crowd with energy and passion, delivering a powerful speech with an obvious conviction which his admirers would say sets him apart from so many politicians.

The man clearly knew his audience. Brighton is “a wonderful place... which has given space and sanctuary to so many”, he proclaimed adding: “if you are a refugee, Brighton will welcome you”.

In addition to roars for the additional three million votes Labour picked up in June, for council house building and for the Education Maintenance Allowance, there were boos for Donald Trump, the DUP, and - of course - Thatcher.

There were laughs when Southern Rail - which has cancelled trains this weekend when delegates are trying to get to Conference - received ironic praise for “treating everybody equally badly”, but wild applause for the promise of renationalisation.

Afterwards Pam Mudgewood, wearing a “Corbyn-Wan” t-shirt which imagined the Labour leader as a Jedi knight, said she had loved the speech. She added: “He means hope for this country.” Labour peer Steve Bassam said it was the largest political rally fort Labour in Brighton in living memory.