Watch: Dennis Skinner tells Labour conference that he wants to ‘nationalise something every week’

Veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner brought the house down at the party’s annual conference today when he told them he wanted to ‘nationalise something every week’.

Mr Skinner – known as the ‘Beast of Bolsover’ – praised the NHS as he told delegates in Liverpool he would not be alive without the health service.

The 86-year-old, who was elected as an MP in 1970, told the crowd: ‘The reason I’m still living is because of the treatment that I’ve had at the hands of the National Health Service that was set up by Nye Bevan and his mates in that wonderful government of 1945 to 1950.’

Praising Labour’s leader, Mr Skinner added: ‘And that’s why when we talk about Jeremy Corbyn and electing him to power wouldn’t it be wonderful to get somebody to mirror what happened in 1945?

‘I hope that I’m still in Parliament because I want to nationalise something every week.’

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Mr Skinner received a standing ovation as he took to the stage and repeatedly brought laughter to the auditorium.

He spoke of how he had a heart bypass in 2003, and said: ‘I’ll never forget that steady hand of the doctor that found a way from my groin straight into my heart.

‘I watched every movement, I thought if ever he makes a slip then that’s the end – there’ll be no more speeches at the Labour Party conference. But he did it and the result was that I’m still here.

‘Then I had a hip replacement and because of the wonderful NHS I can walk backwards.’