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So what does having Ed Miliband in charge mean for Wales? "Good news I think" said one Welsh MP. "He knows Team Wales were backing him. Can't hurt".

It means the odds on a Labour victory at the next general election have lengthened, according to the bookies standing on the steps outisde the conference centre but it means renewed vigour in the fight for an outright victory for Labour at the Assembly Elections in May, says Carwyn Jones.

The fightback starts now was the message to Welsh delegates this lunchtime. Mr Jones may be the First Minister but in Ed Miliband's Manchester he was introduced rather more grandly as "part of that new generation" who'll now be leading the Labour party - alongside Mr Miliband of course.

Will Ed Miliband as leader mean a change to the Barnett formula - the formula that's used to work out how much money the government in Wales gets each year? It should, in Mr Jones' view. Only this morning he told my colleague David Cornock on The Politics Show that Wales is underfunded to the tune of £300m per year. Barnett should be reformed. Why hadn't Labour done just that while they had the power to do so? Because, said Mr Jones, they "didn't have the evidence then".

How about Mr Miliband?

On Radio Wales last week, this was what he said:

"I think that lots of people talk about this new needs based formula. I don't rule that out, but I think we'd be very cautious in reopening a formula that has served us pretty well. I think you've got to pay special attention to Wales over and above the existing Barnett Formula and that's the approach I'd take in government".

Again later he said that "If we were in government we'd be saying in each spending round, well look we've got the Barnett Formula in place but Wales has got a special specific issue that needs to be looked at".

What now then, asked one Jones - my colleague Arwyn, of the other Jones, the First Minister?

"I'm looking forward to changing his mind" came the response.

So will having Ed Miliband in charge mean good things for Welsh MPs?

"When I'm introduced as the Shadow Welsh Secretary" said Peter Hain this lunchtime, "I think of myself as a shadow of my former self". Not for much longer surely, say those around him. Having so publicly backed the right horse, Mr Hain's star is in the ascendant they suggest; "back in the game" as another voice put it.

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