We've had the LibDems in windswept, rainswept Brighton two weeks ago, Old Labour in Manchester for what must have seemed a very long time (though for the diehards and union carthorses 5 days of vitriol and class war maybe isn't enough?) to anyone with active brain cells and any feeling at all in their rear ends. This week it is the turn of the Tories to gather in Birmingham. Any shindig that starts on a chilly grey autumnal Sunday afternoon, the nadir of any week to many, can only improve. Probably they all did once the attendees had forgotten they would rather be somewhere else , moved their mental location to somewhere off the face of the planet and settled down to the serious business of heavy drinking and "networking", the latter taken very seriously by some. To capitalise on this fact of life the appropriate washroom vending machines will have been kept well stocked throughout.
The choice of venues is always significant. For the LibDems, Brighton, just 60 minutes from London by eco train, once doyen of the seaside resorts and by far the most acceptable to the socially aware and liberally minded citizens of the capital, is a natural. There's the backdrop of a grey sea, a broken down pier but an everlasting hope of revival being just around the corner. When the conference hall became just too dull there were plenty of good whinging, plotting or just "networking" pubs just around the corner .For Labour there is a vintage grey afternoon's afternoon experience to be had in post industrial revolution Manchester. While there is plenty of brass in and around the city , there is also a died in the wool hard core of socialism , a history of "struggle" and a conviction that all ills stem from a certain Margaret Thatcher. It is a city where Tory canvassers may as well not bother to tread, so very few do. A great place to gather in a converted disused railway station and ,like it, recall glories past before moving on to the future. In Labour's case this is to be about "One Nation" a worthy slogan theoretically all inclusive. But wait a moment, this is a Labour conference, not a "we love everybody " session. They don't . Most of those in the hall are included in the deadly embrace but many, many, others are not. The class enemies of the (always filthy) rich, the middle classes, Tories and countless others are definately not "One Nation". Indeed they'd better watch out as the Peoples' Utopia rolls its tumbrils in. Ed got away with it pretty well unchallenged though.
The Conservatives chose their progressive northern outpost of Birmingham. To many of them it is "the North". They lack a concept of "Midlands" and beyond this city memories of junior school maps begin to fade into "Here be Savages" territory. To go there invokes a feeling of slight risk, something to be mentioned with modest pride over dinner parties. One has gone over the northern rim of the Cotswolds and descended into more dangerous territory. Making the journey shows though that one isn't just an inner M25 southerner.It's good for the soul. If all goes wrong it's only a short drive back to Chipping Norton, Cotswold cottages or a dash down the M1 back to the comforting sign "Watford-1 mile" and that warm, comforting ,"We're nearly home" feeling.
The LibDems in Brighton seemed to just come and go. Did it actually happen? Allegedly they gathered. Vince said his bit about not bidding for the leadership, heaven forbid, but if on the other had he were by popular demand press ganged and propelled towards the chair , well far be it for him to go against the wishes of the masses etc etc. No surprise there. Typical of general LiDem mental circuitry problems was their debate on airport capacity in the south east ( for which one may as well read "the world"). You can join the thought process almost anywhere on the cycle/circle but once you're into it there's no possibility of a conclusion. It goes something like: " We don't like Heathrow/flying at all/travelling at all/using fuel at all/.........We think Heathrow must close.........There can't be any additional runways....We could build a new airport somewhere else but it mustn't have more runways.........It mustn't be near anywhere, keep anyone awake, destroy the countryside, annoy people living in big towns,adversely affect birds, newts, wildflife... It mustn't need new roads or railways.............Oh..........................! Is that the bell for lunch? Apply the same formula and attendant list of "no gos" and you get an idea of the problem facing the party in hacking its way through an everlasting jungle of undergrowth and impossibility.
Then came Manchester. After dreary Brighton the media perked up at the prospect of a much more red and red meat occasion . Love of the Tories is fading so here was an opportunity for a relaunch of something, but what? It all started off with the chief financiers and holders of the 50% block vote, the legacy unions, reminding "Conference" that they remain the unsmiling boss. That's democracy for you. Nice people. There's not quite a stated "We know where you live" but one feels that's never far from the surface. Labour meetings may be a love-in for the faithful and the old party dynasties and families but for anyone their bouncers would keep or throw out there is no love at all. In a land where all sorts of expressions of hatred are actually illegal ,this is the only party where actual hatred of other groups is spoken of not only amongst the attendees but from the stage too. Ed came over strongly and very cleverly with his hijacked Disraelian "One Nation" wraparound theme, something which the Tories inexplicably lack. He hit several sitting ducks as well as using favoured and highly effective dogwhistles. The Tories' vulnerabilities include social elitisim due to many of its leadership having similar top public school , Oxbridge and wealth credentials as well as questions about determination, competance,clarity, correctness of objectives and tactics plus the ability to actually get things done. Miliband hit them all. The media liked it. Here at last is a chance of a frisky political winter after a dull summer of holidays, Olympics and a feeling of general well being,- not the sort of stuff that sells papers. This is similar to the way they suddenly all lionsied Nick Clegg after the "I agree with Nick" TV debates before the May 2010 General Election. Ten years earlier the Millenium Dome and celebrations were slagged off and panned after the press queued ,neglected and champagnee deficient, at Stratford tube station on the night of 31st December 1999 . This week they almost universally and uncritically praised Ed's comeback kid performance to the skies. In so doing they chose to ignore the real huge divisiveness of what he said . They also skated over the almost total lack of any clues as to whether he actually had one about what to do if elected to office in 2015. The herd behaviour and lack of sanguine analysis is dismal. An old style editor or old fashioned university tutor would have sent their work back annotated-"No depth. Do it again".
Much of all this jumping about is aimed to raise the bar for Cameron's performances in Birmingham this week. The Tories didn't see Ed's success and rehabilitation coming. One has to ask why they failed so abjectly and whether they have the right sort of people scanning the 360 degree horizon . They seem to be no match for the Press wolves who are lying in wait, ambush even, and looking forward to a feast. It looks as if some P45s in Tory HQ would be in order.
The Conservative run up to Birmingham has not been impressive. They do not look well co-ordinated, disciplined or together. Why the banana skins of a Minister, ten days into his job, uttering non approved views about changes to the abortion law,the various disagreements and fiascos in the Ministry of Transport? All these things give credance to at least those Labour shrieks about managerial competance and a shambles. How can a party, up against it in the polls, come out of a long summer break rocking about so badly? We've said it before but it's time for the top to get a grip on it all, and to sort out the party machinery and its people.
There is every likelihood that the conclusion at the end of the conference season will be that Ed was the winner, Dave didn't hack it and Nick,- well what happened in Brighton? The media objective will be to rack up the idea that the 2015 election, still 2 and a half years away, is game on and Ed M the likely next PM. If this took root it would lead to 2+ years of artificially generated US-style hype .Apart from being tedious this could be counter productive. We might all get heartily fed up with it, especially with the institutionally left-leaning BBC peddling its wares .That's not good for political debate or democracy.
All to play for in Birmingham then. Twiga will be munching on it. Maybe a thorn tree would be nicer.
The choice of venues is always significant. For the LibDems, Brighton, just 60 minutes from London by eco train, once doyen of the seaside resorts and by far the most acceptable to the socially aware and liberally minded citizens of the capital, is a natural. There's the backdrop of a grey sea, a broken down pier but an everlasting hope of revival being just around the corner. When the conference hall became just too dull there were plenty of good whinging, plotting or just "networking" pubs just around the corner .For Labour there is a vintage grey afternoon's afternoon experience to be had in post industrial revolution Manchester. While there is plenty of brass in and around the city , there is also a died in the wool hard core of socialism , a history of "struggle" and a conviction that all ills stem from a certain Margaret Thatcher. It is a city where Tory canvassers may as well not bother to tread, so very few do. A great place to gather in a converted disused railway station and ,like it, recall glories past before moving on to the future. In Labour's case this is to be about "One Nation" a worthy slogan theoretically all inclusive. But wait a moment, this is a Labour conference, not a "we love everybody " session. They don't . Most of those in the hall are included in the deadly embrace but many, many, others are not. The class enemies of the (always filthy) rich, the middle classes, Tories and countless others are definately not "One Nation". Indeed they'd better watch out as the Peoples' Utopia rolls its tumbrils in. Ed got away with it pretty well unchallenged though.
The Conservatives chose their progressive northern outpost of Birmingham. To many of them it is "the North". They lack a concept of "Midlands" and beyond this city memories of junior school maps begin to fade into "Here be Savages" territory. To go there invokes a feeling of slight risk, something to be mentioned with modest pride over dinner parties. One has gone over the northern rim of the Cotswolds and descended into more dangerous territory. Making the journey shows though that one isn't just an inner M25 southerner.It's good for the soul. If all goes wrong it's only a short drive back to Chipping Norton, Cotswold cottages or a dash down the M1 back to the comforting sign "Watford-1 mile" and that warm, comforting ,"We're nearly home" feeling.
The LibDems in Brighton seemed to just come and go. Did it actually happen? Allegedly they gathered. Vince said his bit about not bidding for the leadership, heaven forbid, but if on the other had he were by popular demand press ganged and propelled towards the chair , well far be it for him to go against the wishes of the masses etc etc. No surprise there. Typical of general LiDem mental circuitry problems was their debate on airport capacity in the south east ( for which one may as well read "the world"). You can join the thought process almost anywhere on the cycle/circle but once you're into it there's no possibility of a conclusion. It goes something like: " We don't like Heathrow/flying at all/travelling at all/using fuel at all/.........We think Heathrow must close.........There can't be any additional runways....We could build a new airport somewhere else but it mustn't have more runways.........It mustn't be near anywhere, keep anyone awake, destroy the countryside, annoy people living in big towns,adversely affect birds, newts, wildflife... It mustn't need new roads or railways.............Oh..........................! Is that the bell for lunch? Apply the same formula and attendant list of "no gos" and you get an idea of the problem facing the party in hacking its way through an everlasting jungle of undergrowth and impossibility.
Then came Manchester. After dreary Brighton the media perked up at the prospect of a much more red and red meat occasion . Love of the Tories is fading so here was an opportunity for a relaunch of something, but what? It all started off with the chief financiers and holders of the 50% block vote, the legacy unions, reminding "Conference" that they remain the unsmiling boss. That's democracy for you. Nice people. There's not quite a stated "We know where you live" but one feels that's never far from the surface. Labour meetings may be a love-in for the faithful and the old party dynasties and families but for anyone their bouncers would keep or throw out there is no love at all. In a land where all sorts of expressions of hatred are actually illegal ,this is the only party where actual hatred of other groups is spoken of not only amongst the attendees but from the stage too. Ed came over strongly and very cleverly with his hijacked Disraelian "One Nation" wraparound theme, something which the Tories inexplicably lack. He hit several sitting ducks as well as using favoured and highly effective dogwhistles. The Tories' vulnerabilities include social elitisim due to many of its leadership having similar top public school , Oxbridge and wealth credentials as well as questions about determination, competance,clarity, correctness of objectives and tactics plus the ability to actually get things done. Miliband hit them all. The media liked it. Here at last is a chance of a frisky political winter after a dull summer of holidays, Olympics and a feeling of general well being,- not the sort of stuff that sells papers. This is similar to the way they suddenly all lionsied Nick Clegg after the "I agree with Nick" TV debates before the May 2010 General Election. Ten years earlier the Millenium Dome and celebrations were slagged off and panned after the press queued ,neglected and champagnee deficient, at Stratford tube station on the night of 31st December 1999 . This week they almost universally and uncritically praised Ed's comeback kid performance to the skies. In so doing they chose to ignore the real huge divisiveness of what he said . They also skated over the almost total lack of any clues as to whether he actually had one about what to do if elected to office in 2015. The herd behaviour and lack of sanguine analysis is dismal. An old style editor or old fashioned university tutor would have sent their work back annotated-"No depth. Do it again".
Much of all this jumping about is aimed to raise the bar for Cameron's performances in Birmingham this week. The Tories didn't see Ed's success and rehabilitation coming. One has to ask why they failed so abjectly and whether they have the right sort of people scanning the 360 degree horizon . They seem to be no match for the Press wolves who are lying in wait, ambush even, and looking forward to a feast. It looks as if some P45s in Tory HQ would be in order.
The Conservative run up to Birmingham has not been impressive. They do not look well co-ordinated, disciplined or together. Why the banana skins of a Minister, ten days into his job, uttering non approved views about changes to the abortion law,the various disagreements and fiascos in the Ministry of Transport? All these things give credance to at least those Labour shrieks about managerial competance and a shambles. How can a party, up against it in the polls, come out of a long summer break rocking about so badly? We've said it before but it's time for the top to get a grip on it all, and to sort out the party machinery and its people.
There is every likelihood that the conclusion at the end of the conference season will be that Ed was the winner, Dave didn't hack it and Nick,- well what happened in Brighton? The media objective will be to rack up the idea that the 2015 election, still 2 and a half years away, is game on and Ed M the likely next PM. If this took root it would lead to 2+ years of artificially generated US-style hype .Apart from being tedious this could be counter productive. We might all get heartily fed up with it, especially with the institutionally left-leaning BBC peddling its wares .That's not good for political debate or democracy.
All to play for in Birmingham then. Twiga will be munching on it. Maybe a thorn tree would be nicer.
