Party conference

Party conferences are vulgar, expensive circuses. That is the view of Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in a recent i article. Her early experience as a young reporter at Conservative conference may have primed her misgivings. She recalls having her bottom pinched and being subject to racial sneers. She was better treated at Labour and Lib Dems conferences, but found some prejudice on the part of fellow-scribes. She admits to having fallen under the spell of Nick Clegg (too many of us, even insiders were, it must be admitted) to the extent of co-authoring a paper on diversity with him. Reading between the lines, she felt as if she had been used by him, discarded when no longer needed. Join the club - it was no reason to lump Lib Dems in with the rest. 

For I am glad to say that debate still takes place at our conference while the major parties affairs are now mere rallies. Tim Bell, the Albert Speer of the Thatcher Conservative party, started the process. Mind you, the Conservatives had more reason than most at the time to remove debate from conference once the TV cameras moved in. Racist and class views were freely expressed and, while they may not have carried the day, they were prevalent enough to be embarrassing. For a long time Labour held out. Once procedural wrangles were sorted out and debates got under way, they were usually genuine and thought-provoking. A general air of disorganisation hung over proceedings, though.

I must admit that I could not summon up the enthusiasm to join Liberal Democrat conference, even on-line. (It has been a long time since I have been able to afford to spend three days in a pricey English resort.) The pre-manifesto was, I thought, a good basis for campaigning but did not detail what made the party distinctive. I feared an atmosphere of triumphalism. There were also rugby union world cup matches to watch,

I did, however, this week start to watch the YouTube videos of proceedings and was agreeably surprised. The triumphalism over so many English council wards won was there all right, but limited to the first day and evening, The debates were back to pre-pandemic levels and it was good to see so many new, articulate, activists on the platform. We also have a new star in the form of Eastbourne's Josh Babarinde. He reminded me of my first sight of Tim Farron at the Brighton conference after he had won his Westmoreland and Lonsdale seat from the Conservatives, when he chaired a fringe meeting (on local enterprises if I recall correctly) alongside Julia Goldsworthy (a sad loss to the Commons in 2015).

The two men are different in so many ways. The out gay of African ancestry in sunny Eastbourne contrasts with the epitome of heterosexuality from generally-less-than-sunny Blackburn. However they both have stage presence, connect with audiences and can tell a good story. Babarinde has a better-than-even chance of lighting up the  Commons after next year's general election. One to watch.

Nor has Farron lost his touch. He was instrumental in amending housing policy (did I mention that the party still has genuine debates?) and he introduced the motion on food and farming. Prospective Brecon MP also figured in this debate. It is worth watching at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEtVwB81gAs 

There is a bonus on that video, about 2hrs 23m in. Kira Rudyk of the Ukrainian parliament, a member of a sister party to the Liberal Democrats, gave a speech which moved conference to a standing ovation.