Stephen's week - at Party Conference
October 3, 2006 3:12 PM
By Stephen Williams MP
By Stephen Williams MP
So the 2006 conference season is over. The Conservatives left Bournemouth having been told by their leader Dave that he'd changed them, moved them to the centre and that they shouldn't worry about the fact that they have got no policies yet. Labour left Manchester with Gordon in a grump because Cherie spoiled his day and Tony made an emotional "farewell, but not just yet" speech.
And what of us? Well I left Brighton with my elation just about cancelling out my exhaustion! I've been going to conferences on and off since 1985 and this was certainly one of our best. The weather was brilliant and the party was upbeat, focused and disciplined. Ming's mantra is that we stand for substance over style. And the quality of the debates, in the hall and on the fringe, gave plenty of evidence that the Lib Dems are serious about preparing for a role in Government.
Conference for me is now quite different to my previous experiences. I used to be able to choose the debates and fringes that interested me. Now I hope that people choose to come and listen to me speaking in fringes. Fringes take place over breakfast, lunch and into the evening and I was the main speaker for the party at eight of them this year. The topics were mainly education, on making the curriculum exciting, on paying for higher education, for getting the right skills for an aging workforce etc etc.
In between fringes I had a variety of one to one meetings with the CBI, teachers' unions, the Royal College of Nursing and many others. This meant that I was able to attend only one debate in the main conference hall - the debate on our new tax policies. As I had played a part in drafting these I was disappointed not to be able to speak. But I was delighted that conference voted overwhelmingly to back our proposals. We now have a detailed set of plans that tackle social inequality and tax pollution and energy use. Ming has a platform on which to campaign, while Dave Cameron doesn't want to talk tax at all.
The other conference highlights were speeches by our new leader and his predecessor. It was good to see Charles back on form and he was received with much affection. Ming concluded our conference with a thoughtful, confident and uplifting speech.
Now it's back to Westminster, where every day feels a bit like conference, but without the sea side atmosphere!
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