Conference blog
UKIP not ready for an election
- 7 comments
- Posted by Matt Sandy
- 05 October 2007
Matt Sandy reports from the UKIP conference where he finds a party unready for electoral battle
You can tell a UKIP member (that's UK Independence Party) from 20 paces, the un-reconstituted Right marching towards their encampment in this un-reconstituted corner of Docklands for their annual conference.
With their shiny white hair and rolled up copies of the Daily Telegraph; with their tweed suits and self-righteously upright posture. Four rosetted pensioners edge out of Limehouse station in a strict formation. The two couples ignore the handmade [...]
Labour's 'patchy' content
- 0 comments
- Posted by Andrew Mitchell
- 03 October 2007
The government needs to be radically more open and transparent about aid spending, writes Shadow International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell
Yesterday we had a fantastic international development debate.
We were privileged and humbled to welcome two very different, but equally impressive, international guests to the stage.
Exiled Burmese human rights activist Zoya Phan made a dramatic and emotional speech. Holding aloft heavy iron shackles, she said:
"These shackles were smuggled out of a prison in Burma. This is what those monks who have been arrested will be forced [...]
O come all ye faithful
- 0 comments
- Posted by Stanley Johnson
- 02 October 2007
Wind-turbines turn to face the wind. Sunflowers turn to face the sun. Will the British public turn once again to the Tories, wonders Stanley Johnson
I don’t know whether it was the stark lighting in the ballroom of the Winter Gardens at Blackpool or the giant backdrop of green trees and blue sky, but when George Osborne strode out onto the stage soon after mid-day, he looked perfectly plausible as a Chancellor-in-waiting. He seemed taller, a bit heavier, his voice fuller, more authoritative. What’s more, he had some real red meat for an audience desperate [...]
A turning tide?
- 0 comments
- Posted by Alan Duncan
- 01 October 2007
An optimistic if rather stiff Alan Duncan reports from the Conservative conference on the day he addressed the party faithful
My legs are stiff this morning. I guess that's what you get for running 13 miles the day before! The Great North Run is a slog but it's all for a good cause. By completing the race I raised nearly £500 for Own It, a charity based in Newcastle, which helps disengaged students into work placements. I was more nervous before the race then I was before my [...]
Upbeat Tories
- 0 comments
- Posted by Anne Milton
- 01 October 2007
Guildford MP Anne Milton files in the small hours from Blackpool where she's found her colleagues in buoyant mood
1am, later than I intended but always the way it goes, just end up meeting loads of people you havent seen for ages. Fantastic atmosphere here with the mood being very up beat - a general election - just bring it on! Doing 2 fringes tomorrow on mental health and safety in the NHS - late for speech writing but the night is yet young for conference goers! Blackpool giving [...]
Late nights, long walks and much dashing about
- 1 comments
- Posted by Sam Barratt
- 28 September 2007
A day spent tackling Burma, Gaza, four Oxjam concerts, four recruitments and a potential office move is a relaxing one, compared to the Labour conference
As Head of Media for Oxfam, the party conference season is an important place to go and spend time with Britain’s most senior and influential journalists, to discuss issues of the day. There is a rich cast of characters who either are there hunting in the margins for something new, or for new ways to present old problems (Darfur being a classic head-scratcher for many), while others use it as [...]
If I were you David...
- 10 comments
- Posted by Ali Miraj
- 28 September 2007
Ali Miraj, who was kicked off David Cameron's candidate A-list in July, imagines what he would do if he were Tory leader including going on a people management course
Ali Miraj, who was kicked off David Cameron's candidate A-list in July, imagines what he would do if he were Tory leader including going on a people management course
In an effort to put the difficulties of recent months behind me I intend to take the following steps:
First, I will shake up the Shadow Cabinet as follows. William Hague will be moved to Shadow Chancellor and made Deputy Leader. [...]
Snap election? Bring it on!
- 0 comments
- Posted by Hazel Blears
- 27 September 2007
Cabinet Minister Hazel Blears urges Gordon Brown to call an early election and warns the PM activists are too precious to become a "passive backdrop for ministerial speeches".
I’ve lost count of the number of journalists who’ve asked when the election is coming, including at 6.30am on GMTV. The answer is simple – I don’t know, and neither does anyone else, with one exception. The delegates in Bournemouth are enthusiastic about the prospect of an autumn poll. They want to give the streets – and the Tories - a pounding.
My conference week has been fantastic. I’ve been [...]
The taxi driver's analysis
- 0 comments
- Posted by Owen Walker
- 27 September 2007
A glimpse of the pied piper, a Chinese driver who thinks he knows the PM's secret, and much more...
As a wet-behind-the-ears journalist, two months into my first job and on my first trip to a party conference, the prospect of filing for four publications – having never been to Bournemouth before – without a guide or map is a tad daunting.
I realised the level of my naivety at half-past five on Friday afternoon. It was only then my trip was finalised and I had a quick search [...]
The virgin delegate
- 0 comments
- Posted by Val Price
- 26 September 2007
What the Labour women were getting up to and why some of them were on cloud nine after being 'folleted'...
My name is Val Price, and with my husband Fred, we have been members of the Labour Party since 1964. We joined in Slough when Fenner Brockway – then MP for Slough – lost by eleven votes in that General Election. We were horrified. He had been vilified by the local and national press through the Tories for his support of the anti-apartheid movement and his work with ethnic minorities. [...]
Mandy's flirtation with Communism
- 0 comments
- Posted by Jessica Asato
- 25 September 2007
Jessica Asato observes that the fog has finally lifted, as Labour bounces back with renewed vigour, now that Mandelson has given his blessing...
For me, the start of Labour Party Conference is always signalled by Progress'popular annual Sunday night Rally. This year, expectant camera crews and delegates waited to hear Peter Mandelson give his blessing to Gordon Brown's premiership as revealed in the Observer that morning. Nervous laughs greeted Mandelson's concession that he'd indulged in a bit of flirting in his life, though thankfully not with David Cameron as the Observer had [...]
Confidence floods back
- 0 comments
- Posted by Martin Salter
- 25 September 2007
Martin Salter passes a hectic if alcohol-free conference, pausing to reflect on how Brown seems strengthened by crises, steady and sure footed under fire
I think Labour delegates are in a state of sceptical euphoria, almost not daring to believe the opinion polls, the talk of an early election and the strong position the Party now finds itself in after just three months with Gordon Brown at the helm. How different the political landscape now looks from 12 months ago with a resurgent Tory Party under Cameron, the tearful long goodbye to Tony Blair [...]
We cannot be killed
- 6 comments
- Posted by Sion Simon
- 25 September 2007
'Shortly there will be an election, in which Labour will increase its majority'
Let’s be clear: this is a mad one. You won’t have heard it anywhere else, but you can take it from me. At the age of 38, this is my 17th consecutive Labour Party conference, and I’ve never been to one quite like this.
It’s in the nature of collective hysteria that no single act can be adduced to prove its existence. But there is a fin de siecle, self-destructive, [...]
Proud to be unions
- 0 comments
- Posted by Billy Hayes
- 25 September 2007
Billy Hayes reflects on Tony Blair's greatest achievement and attacks the comprehensive failure of the Royal Mail's management in his blog from Labour conference
My day started with a meeting of the CWU Conference delegation at 7.30 a.m.
Our delegates debated out what our policy should be on the contemporary motions facing conference.
I never cease to be amazed at the interest, intellect and passion displayed by Union and Labour movement activists. It may not make my job as General Secretary easy, but such a power certainly makes for effective work by the Union.
[...]There's a buzz in the air
- 0 comments
- Posted by Michael Cashman
- 24 September 2007
Ex-actor turned politician Michael Cashman on what's put a spring in Labour's step.
This is my ninth conference as a member of the National Executive Committee and there is a real buzz in the air. And not just in the bars. Ahead in the polls, unity amongst the members, unity with the trades unions and the government, and almost unity on the NEC! Something is in the air. Talk of elections. Dates were whirring around the bars and fringe last night and then [...]
