Archive for Conference
The wisdom of Liberal Democrat conference
Of course, I’ve never heard anyone rubbish policy decisions made by Liberal Democrat conference, so this is only of academic interest. But I am an academic of sorts (Wednesday nights at City University). Compare and contrast: The motion on the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) passed at Liberal Democrat conference last autumn, and The views [...]
Liberal Democrat Brighton Spring Conference 2013: timetable
Never too early to start thinking about motions and the like, so here’s the timetable: 19 December 2012 (1pm) – deadline for submitting motions for drafting advice 9 January 2013 (1pm) - deadline for submitting motions 19 February 2013 (1pm) - deadline for submitting amendments and emergency motions for drafting advice 5 March 2013 (1pm) - deadline for [...]
You don’t have to go to conference to be a conference rep
Not only do you not need to be a conference rep to go to conference, you don’t need to go to federal conference to become a federal voting conference rep. It’s often assumed that it is only worth becoming a conference rep if you are going to go to conference, and as a result local [...]
Are you a Liberal Democrat conference rep who went to Brighton?
If so, I’ve got a question for you. Below is the text of an email sent out by 38 Degrees following their lobbying campaign around Liberal Democrat conference. The lobbying itself – over the climate change debate – was pretty well done, in particular firing up supporters to want to lobby the Liberal Democrats – [...]
Newsletter #25 is out: conference coverage and analysis
A combination of quick thinking, fast typing and a long standing ovation for Nick Clegg meant that newsletter #25 covering party conference started hitting people’s email inboxes this week just before the applause finished at the end of conference. My fingers have now just about recovered, and if you missed out on the newsletter you [...]
The Huppert veto is confirmed: Nick Clegg on the Draft Communications Data Bill
It has become a tradition for the weekend at the start of Liberal Democrat federal autumn conferences to feature a Q+A session with the party leader. This time in Brighton I took the opportunity to submit a question about the Draft Communications Data Bill, aka Snoopers’ Charter. With draft legislation currently being examined by a [...]
Nick Clegg’s speech: analysis from Matthew Parris, Lance Price and myself
On Wednesday night Radio 4′s The World Tonight lined up the three of us to talk about Nick Clegg’s speech to the Brighton conference. You can listen to our discussion, along with interviews with other conference attendees here: * Mark Pack has written 101 Ways To Win An Election and produces a monthly newsletter about the [...]
Intruder alert: ominous new jargon doing the rounds at Brighton
Good news: Alarm Clock Britain remains dead. Promising news: Social Mobility only rarely used. (Why is that promising? Because it’s a politically dreadful phrase.) INTRUDER ALERT: INCOMING NEW JARGON. Decarbonisation. No, no and thrice no. It’s easy, short, convenient shorthand – and completely meaningless to most people. It’s also increasingly popular on the lips of [...]
Nick Clegg’s speech to conference: “A fair, free and open society”
Much of the pre-speech briefing was about how Nick Clegg’s conference speech would major on how the party is becoming one of government. This is not a message aimed at the party itself really, as the debate in Brighton has been over what to do in government, not whether or not to be in government. Much [...]
+++ Paddy Ashdown to chair 2015 general election campaign
Party leader speeches at conferences rarely contain completely untrailed and fresh news. Nick Clegg’s does: that Paddy Ashdown will chair the party’s 2015 general election campaign. Although his name wasn’t one of those I speculated about previously, it is a logical choice because the party’s plan is to fight a 1997-style general election campaign, with [...]
