Planning for Conference

As yesterday's post highlighted - Conference season is upon us. If one is going, what planning is involved? These are my thoughts - after many Labour Party conferences, the first being back in 2000.

Planning ahead is essential. This week there will be people booking their accommodation for the 2016 Conference in Liverpool. Accommodation can be hard to find - particularly as conference gets closer. The numbers involved in a major party conference are immense - delegates, party members, party officials, exhibitors - and most need overnight accommodation during the conference.

Applications for the various tickets are usually required during the late spring and summer. Constituency Labour Parties & affiliated organisations choose delegates to send during this period. "Balcony Passes" are available to party members who wish to attend.

Train tickets also need to be bought in advance.

At the beginning of September, the Conference Magazine is sent out. I immediately get out my conference planning grid - which has evolved since I first attended a conference - in Brighton - back in 2000. Using the conference Magazine I choose which events I hope to attend. The problem is that there is always so much on - so my excel file allows me to put order of preference for each event at the same time. Circumstances change - a really interesting event requiring a long walk in horrendous weather may be sacrificed if I'm running rate (or don't fancy the awful rain and wind outside).

Below are photos of my grid for last year's conference in Manchester.

 



I'll be printing out my final version for this year's Brighton conference - and armed with any required tickets, will be ready to set off at the weekend. But first, the packing...

Conference winds down (and so do I)

The Leader’s speech has been delivered; a number of visitors have left Manchester; and there is a much thinner fringe programme. Apart from the speculation about David Miliband’s future, there has been a less fevered atmosphere than previously. Yet while it has been more relaxed, I’ve probably done more. With the pressure off to rush from event to event, more time has been available to chat with friends – and to talk about the future. So while the anticipated announcement about DM came – he will be stepping back from the frontline of British politics – at least for a while – I have been exploring a return to a more active role.
By the end of the day I had consumed more coffee than was probably good for me – but had enjoyed some good company and progressed with planning activities for future months. I also was able to pop into the conference hall to hear an impressive speech by Ed Balls. The hall outside also had many TV screens so it was possible to watch some of the floor debate – I particularly enjoyed a short speech by Stephen Pound – a serious looking man – who uses humour to devastating effect. In the afternoon session Eddie Izzard and Ed Miliband did a double act, while new members spoke of the reasons why they had come to Labour.

In the evening I went for a random walk around the great city of Manchester. It really is worth a visit. There is a vibrant shopping area – and a wide range of restaurants. Some of its magnificent Victorian buildings remain – and they are worth seeing. I passed a number of restaurants – but didn’t go in. Then on a whim I decided to eat at a Chinese buffet close to the Chinese Arch. It was a good choice – as a couple of friends from Milton Keynes were sitting in there (I’d love to know the probability of such a chance meeting!)

Packing also had to be done – as conference finishes this lunchtime. I shall be heading out soon to upload this post; read some news and have a couple of coffees. By this afternoon I should be home. First task – to book accommodation for next year’s conference in Liverpool. Then, to catch up on all the reading - I'm bringing home some excellent food for the mind!

Party Conferences

Today the Liberal Democrat conference continues in Liverpool. It opened on Saturday and will run until Wednesday. Further details are available here. The conference directory - which details the sessions and fringe meetings can be accessed here.

There are two Labour Party Conferences next week. The first conference will be held on Saturday, for the purpose of announcing the result of the election of the new Leader of the Labour Party. (you can sign up to get the results texted to you here.  The Annual Conference begins on Sunday.  Details of fringe events are available here. The Conference is being held in Manchester.

The final conference (of the major UK parties - smaller & regional parties also have their conferences around this time) will be that of the Conservative Party in Birmingham on October 3rd to 6th. Their fringe programme can be accessed here.

Cabinet Meetings Outside London

Last night I was in Birmingham at a reception for the Prime Minister. He is currently touring the regions of the UK before Parliament returns on Monday. Earlier in the day a meeting of the Cabinet had been held in Liverpool. It's the third time since September that the Cabinet has met outside London. The other meetings of the Cabinet were held in November in Leeds (Yorkshire) and in September in Birmingham (West Midlands). The last meeting outside London prior to September was in 1921 in Inverness (Scotland), where Lloyd George was when he summoned the Cabinet to meet him to discuss Ireland. http://www.ambaile.org.uk/en/item/item_photograph.jsp?item_id=5662(Although it has since been revealed that the Cabinet did hold an impromptu meeting in Brighton in 1966 during the Labour Party Conference to discuss a proposal to activate statutory powers to enforce a freeze on prices and incomes.)

There is no requirement for the Cabinet to meet in London - but the United Kingdom has traditionally had a very centralised government. Brown took a lot of criticism yesterday after figures were produced which suggested that regional Cabinets cost £200,000 a time (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cabinet-meetings-outside-london-cost-pound200000-each-1230639.html) - but it's a clear sign that decentralisation continues to be on the agenda.