The People's Republic of South Devon

What a conference! Intrigue, debate, discussion, emotions and more rhetoric and high drama than a typical soap opera. Manchester is fast becoming Labour’s conference venue of choice for political commotion. There are three myths I want to bust from this year’s party conference:

The first myth: After the election of Ed Miliband the party is now united. No, it is not. Labour is not united but it is uniting. They’re different but the process is, I would argue, even more important than a final united destination which we’re quite clearly not at yet. After a lengthy leadership contest it is bonkers to believe that a few days in Manchester will resolve some cosmetic but some deeper divides between the various leadership campaigns and individuals in the party.

Ed needs time to bring together the best bits from all the campaigns and it would be foolish not to raid the skills base and expertise of all the campaigns, but especially David’s. And he should do so quickly. But let’s also be clear about another thing and that is for 97 per cent of party members, and I’d include virtually every party member in the Westcountry in this, the tension and strife caused by the leadership contest among the political class in Westminster means little, if anything. Westminster bubble disputes must not damage the overwhelming positivity of the membership at large towards the new leader and the process that elected him. Those closely aligned to leadership campaigns need to remember that members and voters will have little time for those who fail to unite after such a long process and rightly so.

The second myth: The conference was bustling and busy. No, it wasn’t. Numbers were clearly down despite Devon and Cornwall sending the largest delegate count in recent years. But let’s also be clear this is not necessarily a bad thing depending on your perspective. Labour conferences have long attracted not only delegates, candidates, trade unions and members but also commercial visitors and business interests. Conference did seem noticeably quieter than it had in previous years. But not every day. Just as last week I bemoaned the invasion of suited business interests at Lib Dem conference, this week it was clear that many of the lobbyists had shunned attending Labour conference. This means that the party will have received less money from selling the massively expensive commercial passes but, on the upside, the bar debates and the atmosphere was less diluted by corporate suits and lobby groups (I was there in a day-job role, too, it should be said in interests of disclosure).

The third myth: that the party has lurched to the left. No it hasn’t but let’s be careful here. Perception is reality and if this is not tackled quickly we might as well have. Labour members have long learnt to be sceptical of what Murdoch and the Mail say about us – this could include much of the Westcountry’s media which is owned by the Daily Mail. The Tory press’ simplistic narrative of two brothers, one left, one right reflected, however annoying, genuine questions from the contest partly encouraged by the electoral college. Instead of attacking the media for it voicing these concerns Labour should address them head on.

We haven’t lurched to the militant left of yesteryear and it’s poor politics to suggest Labour has. As Ed builds his team he needs to demonstrate and reassure Middle England that Labour is still a centre left party. This is especially important as the Tories continue to successfully persuade their Lib Dem chums to discard long-held beliefs in favour of supporting Tory cuts and Tory rhetoric.

For me though the most profound thing about this Labour Party conference, unlike any others I have ever attended, was that this was a Labour Party conference. It was a conference about us as a party, a conference about us as a movement and a conference about the future of us as a political force. This is the first time I can say such a thing for many years. Just as Labour had perhaps become too managerial in government, so too had our conference become too stage managed and commercial. This was the start of the membership retaking conference and about time too.

As interesting as the politics of the Labour party is we now only have three weeks until the Coalition announce how they are to butcher our public services with their ideological cuts going deeper and faster than economy needs. This will especially hurt the public sector-dependent south west.

Labour has spent enough time talking about ourselves – it now needs to start talking about the people who need the party and the issues that matter to real people. The contest might be over but the real fight has only just begun.

Take a look at Plymouth Labour’s video from the party conference:

(image: Ed Milliband address Conference Some rights reserved by ChodHound)

The PRSD is part of News and Media Republic, a not-for-profit independent media company. We believe communication helps build confident communities. We don't believe in paywalls or barriers to information, and we rely on advertising and donations. To help us keep doing what we're doing please donate (suggested donation 40p).

News and Media Republic: People's Republic of South Devon • the Devon Week • Arts+Culture • D+CFilm • SouthWestShows

© People's Republic of South Devon, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh