Tuesday Conference - Exhibitions and the Glee Club

I have had a more relaxed morning today. Conference can get a bit intense at times. So I strolled through the park that runs through Bournemouth to a little cafe for breakfast. Bournemouth is a great place; it has elements of a European city with its open spaces and some of its art deco buildings, a little like Barcelona on some ways, then it has the elegance of a Victorian city and sea side town. I took a walk along the shoreline, the firm wet line of sand right by the water. Bournemouth has some of the best beaches in Britain.

I then made a proper visit to the Exhibition so I could talk to some of the exhibitors. I had an interesting debate at the ‘Friends of Israel’ stand (which for various reasons is not next to the ‘Friends of Palestine’), spoke to the Federation of Small Businesses about our town centres, used the cashpoint at the Post Office stand (which for the Lib-Dem conference at least was still open and I wondered whether it would remain open for the whole of the Labour conference), chatted to printers, the Countryside Alliance (which are not all about fox hunting) and a whole host of others.

My first true event of the day was with the, Institute of Directors where Vince Cable spoke about the future of the economy. Vince spoke about bonus payments in the financial industry, liberal regulation in the market to provide institutions people can trust and who would provide a stable financial environment. The speaker from the IoD gave a constructive and favourable response to our policies. He stressed that it was important that Britain remained competitive.

A very long walk up the hill for an interesting training session.

I needed a sandwich at this point and so went into a coffee shop and while I ate read a copy of the Daily Mail. At the conference its so easy to be in a bit of a bubble, so I was reassured to read that; Britain is officially the most crowded place in Europe, there are paedophiles round every corner and three teenagers have been stabbed 666 times and eaten by Russian Satanists.

Tonight I am having dinner with some people from the region, not sure who yet, I am filling a place that has become free, and then it is the glee club!

OK, I will tell you about the glee club. You would not believe it unless you had seen it.

It is basically the end of conference party, with a tradition that goes right back to who knows when, Gladstone probably! (now there is a thought). The party faithful gather for a few drinks and to sing songs ancient and modern ranging from hymns on land reform, Jerusalem and more recent irreverent versions of catchy tunes celebrating the exploits of former leaders. These are accompanied by John Hemming MP on Piano and an assortment of turns by heroic campaign teams from by elections past. It is something to be witnessed I can tell you! Last year Paddy Ashdown told the longest and eventually pointless shaggy dog story. I wonder if Nick will do a turn this year, I hope so.

Serious Debating on Monday

Each year the BBC put on an informative Breakfast which is a good start to the day. This year they used it as an opportunity to preview their new BBC Persian service. Countries such as Iran have a large, educated & progressive young population. I am convinced that the only constructive hope for progress in Iran is through its youth. This new BBC service is vibrant and will celebrate Persian culture and I am convinced will contribute to progress of freedom for the people in this part of the world.

I then headed down the hill to attend the Party Reform Commission consultation where one of our local councillors, Sarah Boad spoke, stressing the importance of our councillors.

More training with Jenny Willott MP, then off to a lively fringe by the NUT discussing 'Who Should Run Schools?', (for example Academies vs Local Authority) with MP’s David Laws and Paul Holmes, I always like listening to Paul as he is plain speaking and with conviction.

So then onto the debate on our Pre-manifesto, ‘Make it Happen’. (After a cup of tea) It will be interesting to see how the media write this one up tomorrow.

Each conference there is always a debate that is both controversial and enjoyable. A contentious debate at a Lib-Dem conference will find most delegates applauding a speaker even if they disagree with what they had to say (very Liberal). Fellow delegates have told me how much they enjoyed such a debate even if their point of view lost.

So I have just popped back to my holiday flat to drop off some campaign materials I have been meaning to take away for a couple of days. I have a busy evening, Regional and then a National European Campaign team meeting, then the Parliamentary Candidates reception which will be a chance to grab something to eat and chat to colleagues, before rounding it off the evening at the ‘Liberal Review – Humour Balance Task Force’ which could be a lot of fun.

I can only give you a small view of a Party Conference as there is so much to do, be informed about and get involved in, that any person can only see a fraction of it.

So what happens at Party Conferences?

Anyone who has never been to a party conference might wonder what we do all day. Well its not all sitting in a huge conference hall listening to debates on taper relief of capital gain tax, followed by partying till the early hours in the conference bar. There is training, fringe events, photo sessions, campaign groups to talk to, media and meetings with colleagues and various party bodies. There might be some drinking in the hotel bar, but tonight I am having an early night as I have an early start tomorrow.

So I started the second day again with some more training, there is no shortage of training in the Lib-Dem's, yet its all useful.

On the way out of the conference centre I got talking to campaigners from Rethink, a mental health campaign organisation. There is real inequality in just about every area of life for people with mental health issues, including mild depression that can effect any of us. Then there is the bigger issue of the huge percentage of people in our bulging prisons who have mental health issues. Surely treatment is more appropriate than banging them up!

Time cup of tea before attending a fringe from the 'ippr' with Norman Lamb looking at the balance between Public & Private provision of Public Services. This is a debate all major parties are having at the moment and we can learn much from countries such as Sweden.

I managed to grab something to eat then went into the Q&A with Nick Clegg. Nick answered a range of questions including; is he Cameron Lite, or Clegg Full Strength. Nick answered this by comparing policies, finally stating David Cameron would never do that! Nick believes we have the best policies on for example; housing, public services and the economy. Nick's ambition is that we remain the trend setter in British politics in the way have been on the environment.

Quick trek up the hill for a briefing with Vince Cable. Vince discussed some of the issues with the housing market. Councils should be able to buy empty properties or where people are unable to keep up with their payments and rentback.

Vince clarified our new tax proposals through closing tax avoidance, green taxes & savings. Regarding regulation of banking, ask me about, Countercyclical Regulation when I get back and see if I remember.

Finally an evening fringe run by Oxfam discussing how Climate Change is a Foreign Policy issue, with shifting weather patterns, basic resources such as water will become a valuable commodity which are already creating tensions around the globe. Countries such as the USA are not immune to this as deforestation in Brazil will affect rainfall in parts of the mid-west. So we need an international framework to agree how much water can be taken out of rivers and regulate the activities of countries that would affect neighbours. Quite a challenge!

Another full and interesting day, we have been so lucky with the weather. I think I have earned a pint on the conference hotel lawn overlooking the sea.

Saturday at The Lib-Dem Conference. Training, Debate and Dancing.

I started the conference on a sunny morning with a walk up one of the many hills here in Bournemouth for a training session.

Its interesting to note that polling shows that Crime, Health & Education are still top issues, however Cost of Living is rising as an issue people are concerned about.

I had time for a quick sandwich then onto a briefing. I had time for a quick photo shoot with Liberal Youth; graphically putting the case for votes at 16, then back up the hill for more training.

Its proving to be a full day, quick spin round the exhibition, a chat to a couple of colleagues I bumped into, then a needed cup of coffee before going into a Policy Debate on International Security in the main hall. Our policy on International Security includes; Prevention rather than cure, Work within and strengthen the International Communities and Support our troops so they are well cared for and equipped for when we have to use them. (In fact the way our service personnel is cared for is appalling, not only lack of equipment, some of their housing is so bad I would not board my cat there.)

The rally was opened by an excellent dance troop from a youth project in Grimsby. Nick Clegg developed the theme, 'politics is broken'. Only one man can be trusted with economy, Vince Cable and only the Liberal Democrats can unite people & politics.

Thirsty work so I ended the day in the conference bar, followed by dinner with the chair of neighbouring constituency Kenilworth & Southam.

Bournemouth is a cracking venue for the conference and so far the weather has been bright and sunny. Stunning view of the moon over the bay this evening, let’s hope it keeps fine.

I will be interested in how the conference comes over in the media, so please let me know how you see it from the papers and TV.

Lib Dem Conference in Liverpool

I’ve only just had chance to write about the Lib-Dem conference at Liverpool last weekend.

I have to say I was slightly apprehensive after the events of the week before. I had feared another conference with mutterings over leadership. My fears proved unfounded and I was relieved to note that Nick Clegg mentioned the events in his opening talk at the rally on Friday and even made a joke about it during his closing speech.

I was able to gather some inside information about the rebellion and it seems the whole thing was quite good natured. Some MP’s felt they had to honour the wishes of their constituents in some parts of the country.

Those events aside, the highlights from the conference for me include:

Health Debate

The Health Debate, where we passed amendments to our policy that will ensure we have a greater say in the running of our health service as opposed to the centrally run megalith that it has become. It seems the NHS is now one of the largest, most centrally run organisations, second only to the Chinese Peoples Revolutionary Army, hardly a role model for a progressive democratic British public service.

Vince Cable & The Economy

I enjoyed Vince Cables speech and was able to attend a Parliamentary briefing with him afterwards where he outlined the key challenges to our economy which strongly feature early signs of tightening, increase in home repossessions and bankruptcy. This highlights what Vince has been warning the government of for some years now, the unsustainable rise in personal debt. Gordon Browns economic Miracle has been paid for on our collective credit cards and now we have hit our limit. I do hope that with the shift in exchange rates Britain can muster its manufacturing industry (which still exists in some places) and pull us out of its current difficulties. I would like to see the government do more to encourage this.
(I hope to write more about bankruptcy soon as figures I have seen show an exponential rise since 2001 in the Warwick & Leamington area, a pattern following a national trend, I am waiting for 2007 figures to come out and I will show the full picture.)

Housing

I attended a debate on Housing; again passing changes to our policy that will effectively give local authorities more power to build the affordable housing it desperately needs. Warwick & Leamington have had more than its fair share of new houses, yet with many of the executive style flats lying empty and the four bed double garage properties occupied by commuters, while many people who grew up in the area and actually work here cannot afford to buy a house (including my friend who is a doctor) I do feel the developers have been building the wrong sort of houses.

Paul Holmes who was recently our shadow housing spokesperson spoke with real conviction and having discussed housing with him recently was pleased to hear his contribution to the debate.

On this theme I had chance to discuss this with the lovely Julia Goldsworthy (communities and local government spokeswoman). Julia later gave the first speech I have heard her give at conference, I was quite impressed and am sure we will see a lot more of her in the future.

I had a few drinks in the bar with some of the usual suspects from our regional party and was saved from the Glee Club (end of conference party, which an oath of secrecy forbids me from disclosing details, other than to say that you would not believe it unless you saw it) by having dinner with Phil and Penny Bennion at a local curry house.

Nicks Speech

Nick’s first conference speech lived up to expectations.

During his speech I started to see the narrative coming together that we have been developing since a one day conference I attended a couple of years ago in London. There seem to be two strands to this.

1/ Politics is Broken, public confidence in our politicians is at an all time low, following cash for honours, MP’s expenses rows, people feel politicians are only in it for what they can get and voter turn out is at an all time low. Our electoral system focuses only on swing voters in marginal constituencies and there is little to choose from two establishment parties.
(If Gordon Brown had not bottled out of an election in November analysts say just 8,000 swing voters would have won the election. That is less that half the voters in Warwick!)

2/ We intend to change that and fix our political system by bringing democracy closer to us (the people) so we can regain a voice in what is becoming a faceless centralised state.

All our policies based on Liberal principles hang around this theme like a well-tailored suit.

Nick also ruled out doing a deal with the other main parties. A well needed position in my view, which put to rest any speculation of voting one thing and getting another.

I sense Nick has real conviction and the ambition for our party and our country to strike a chord with all of us across Britain.

So all in all a great conference and a solid start to the next couple of years campaigning.

If you want to ask me about these or any of our other policies, or tell me about your experiences or thoughts please email me.

Harrogate Spring Conference

I have returned home from this years spring conference in Harrogate. It has been a chance to catch up on some training and some informative fringe events, this year I attended a couple of excellent sessions run by the Youth & Students, one on speaking in schools and colleges, very useful as I am attending a debate run by the North Leamington 6th Form next week and an interesting event yesterday on affordable housing, a particular challenge for young people in Warwick & Leamington. The guest speaker Theresa McDermot from Shelter told us, “The most progress over the past few years on housing has been made by the Liberal Democrats.”

I attended a few debates, the Trident debate I have already commented on and of course the Leaders Speech this afternoon. I felt this was the best speech I have heard Ming give as leader, he seemed a lot more relaxed than he appeared in Brighton in September and I felt the message was tighter and more reflective of the way in which our policies hang together. As I was sitting in a prime location I can be spotted along with Pat Wreford-Bush and Cllr Alan Boad from Leamington in the audience on the BBC coverage.

Of course it wouldn’t be a conference without a chance to meet colleagues from around the country in the bar and after spending some of the evening with Mike Dixon and his family, who are from the area I grew up in, I woke with a slight fuzzy head. Some would say I got off lightly.

So its now full steam ahead for the District Council elections in May.