Tony Blair’s big conference phrase was “education, education, education”.
Well, that makes the past two days at SNP conference in Perth “ ovation, ovation, ovation”.
There will be some sore hands among the party faithful after two days spent celebrating Alex Salmond and his successor to the throne, Nicola Sturgeon.
The new leader was in no mood to look back during her keynote address, though. This was about a vision for the future. A pitch to the left, mainly, with big talk on tackling inequality, albeit light on much of the detail. Most of it was about giving some form of vision but there was policy too.
Interestingly, it was issues which had been central to the referendum campaign. Childcare, for a start. It turns out the powers of Holyrood can make things happen.
“By the end of the next parliament, my commitment is that all three and four year olds and all eligible two years olds will receive, not 16 hours, but 30 hours of free childcare each week,” she said.
That’s a proper policy. There were a few of those.
Take the NHS. A pledge that the budget “will rise in real terms for each and every year of the next parliament too”.
And, just to prove there isn’t a complete shift to the extreme left, a promise to continue the small business bonus.
One senior party figure said Sturgeon had “secured a broad middle ground”, while another called it “the best conference speech I’ve ever heard”, hailing its “vision”.
It was certainly impressive and, importantly, measured. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t a rallying cry at the end of it.
Everything Nicola Surgeon talked about she did so, as she herself said, as part of bid to prove Scotland should be independent. That ranks just as high up the list as equality for the First Minister in waiting.
You just need to read the pay off to her speech to see that.
“Our country is alive, engaged, restless for the next stage of our journey. 1.6 million Yes votes for independence is an achievement our forebears could only dream of.
“But it becomes our base camp and from here the summit is in sight. The challenge is great, but our determination is even greater. Because the prize is prosperity, equality, opportunity.
“The prize is independence. Friends, I am ready to lead us on that journey. I ask you to come with me and, together, let us make it happen.”
This weekend may have been the big goodbye but the SNP’s new leader is only looking forward – and it’s obvious in which direction she’s starting.