We hold this dinner every year as an opportunity for members of the wider trade union movement in Burnley to come together, have a good time and have a discussion with a prominent politician about the issues of the day. We had a good turnout with representatives from a number of major employers in the town and I'd like to thank everyone who came.

As well as the serious political discussion it was also a good opportunity for a few little jibes. I had warned Jack to stay off the subject of football since some of the lads in the audience were pretty big but he was kind enough to say the welcome he received at our dinner was better than the last time he had come to Turf Moor.

Beforehand I had held our surgery in the café at Asda in Princess Way. We find this is a good venue, easily accessible by many constituents and we had a good turnout, both from people who had planned to come and see us and from passing shoppers.

Looking out of the window of the café, I was encouraged to see the rapid progress of the new Burnley College site: proof if any were needed of the huge investment this Government is putting into our town. The college itself will be open in less than a year's time, with the university coming shortly afterwards, and I'm very proud of the teams that have worked so hard to make it happen so quickly.

In the meantime, the college continues to flourish on its existing site and I paid a visit last Friday to meet a group of law students as part of their preparation for a trip to Westminster. They were getting ready to travel to London to take part in a mock debate in Westminster Hall, which forms part of the House of Commons. I enjoyed explaining how the legislative process works and taking their questions.

After a day with my family on Saturday, I travelled to Manchester on Sunday for the national Labour Party conference. It's the second time we've held it in Manchester and it is a fantastic venue. Not only is it a nice compact site – we use the refurbished Manchester Central (formerly GMex) for the main hall, and the Midland and Radisson hotels for fringe meetings – but it's also very convenient for MPs and party members based in the North-West.

My role at the conference was to support the work of the chancellor, Alistair Darling, and to take part in a number of seminars mainly in my capacity as Treasury minister but also of course as Burnley's MP. The mood of the conference was businesslike and we left at the end of the week feeling relatively upbeat.

The main event was, of course, the Prime Minister's speech on Tuesday. The hall was packed with delegates and politicians from all over the country (including Burnley's delegate, Shah Hussain) waiting in anticipation for what many people thought would be the speech of a lifetime.

His wife, Sarah, came on to introduce him, which went down well with the audience, and when Gordon Brown himself spoke he gave an impassioned and at times very personal speech that exposed his own very deep motivation to do the right thing for the country and ordinary British people and their families up and down the country. It was very well received, and I think the party recognises we are fortunate to have a Prime Minister who really understands the economic challenges we face at the moment.

I look forward to playing my part by taking the legislation through parliament to change the way that banks are regulated when the House of Commons comes back on October 6th.