For the last few weeks it has been a busy time in the politics calendar. Conference season has been in full swing, and it has been a time filled with surprises, some predictabilities and lots of ridiculous things going on. Today, around a week on, I'm going to be discussing all 3 of the major parties conferences, with a sprinkling of the other parties where possible too.
Starting off with the first main one in the calendar, the Liberal Democrats conference. I could discuss all the policies discussed and debated during this one, and I shall in a bit. However for now the thing I cannot miss is Clegg's apology. Is there any better way to start off a conference than with your leader against a beige wall apologising for making pledges he cannot keep? Probably, however that's not the point- in the end it would seem everything worked out well anyway- The Poke did a remix which Nick Clegg and co fell over- unfortunately they don't seem to get that these sorts of things are not meant to be endorsed by Clegg, they're meant to be a way of rebelling against the power, and by Clegg saying yes (even in the name of charity) it did lessen the want for it on your Itunes. (Other media players are available)
The ideas, policies, and speeches at that conference were quite forgettable really. Maybe that’s just me, but certainly three weeks later I have not got much to use against them. Obviously, the Mansion tax is one of their more memorable policies, and in fact one of the very few I agree with can see the reasons for. As per usual this is the policy which George Osborne decided against almost immediately; even the Lord’s Reform was toyed over for a longer period of time than the mansion tax, which was terminated as an idea because you could even type one ironic tweet on the Lib Dems failing to get yet another idea through.
The speeches from the Lib Dem conference meanwhile were slightly more memorable. Saying that, Danny Alexander, Vince Cable and Nick Clegg’s are the only three I can cite now and even that is only to call them upon their pathetic jokes. If I was to host one of those late night E4 countdown shows, I would award Clegg the gong for worst joke. Admittedly, I cannot joke with ease either, but given a long period of time to write something even I can conjure something more than” “To make blue go green you have to add yellow “-Is that a joke? The people attending the conference seemed to think it was, though really it’s just a basic statement of fact- anyone could do that surely? Close runners up are Cable’s pleb gag and Danny Alexander entire speech which I would include but it would take me far too long. When Danny wasn’t attempting jokes he did make a point on tax avoiders, however couldn’t help but make that humorous too by adding a booming Big Brother style ‘WE’RE COMING TO GET YOU’ to proceedings.
Clegg’S speech (apart from the few jokes just mentioned) meanwhile was more serious, and had some good points- he didn’t close off any coalition opportunities, and spoke clearly and with a good strategy. On the other hand though it was ultimately forgettable and didn’t really provide a different view. For someone such as me who feels like Clegg has broken so many promises now that he has no credibility, it didn’t do anything to get me back on side.
The Labour Conference was one I was definitely looking forward to more than the Liberal Democrats one. As someone whose political views tend to slide towards Labour, however would like more from them in policies and image it was always going to be an interesting and revealing affair which I looked forward to. It didn't disappoint, in the end, though with quite a few hiccups along the way. The beginning wasn't too great it must be said; it's hard to explain now but at the time it did feel a bit of a slow starter, and received a more negative reaction than expected. The overall mood stayed cheerful however, and in the end it did catch up to speed and impress me.
I suppose you could say optimism is a theme running throughout all conferences; in other years (by which I mean last year, seeing as two years ago I was more interested in watching four adult judges fight like children on X Factor than lots of adult politicians fighting in their packs) I've noticed much more doom and gloom in the form of glum politicians standing my plant pots on the news and lots of awkward silences, however this time everyone seemed to be much cheerier, even Nick Clegg who is normally in a permanent state of drab and dreariness was caught smiling a few times- I thought my laptop screen would break, but it actually didn’t- that was the biggest shock of all for me.
Moving back to Labour’s Conference, the main attraction of course was Ed Miliband and his speech. Ed may not be the most popular leader Labour have ever had, and it is slightly disheartening that David Miliband is still regularly being voted as the better leader two years later, however I personally am willing to give Ed a chance and actually think he’s doing pretty well at the moment; I do acknowledge that’s an unpopular thing to admit though.
Notably for his speech, Ed performed it without any notes, which he used as a way to showcase how much he cared about the words he spoke. I personally thought his speech was great in general anyway; maybe I'm biased seeing as I’ve always had a soft spot for Miliband and spend my day’s bewildered by people calling him out on how pathetic he is as leader, but I thought he really reached into the heart and spoke lots of truth. His phrase of choice this time is ‘One Nation’ which some have compared to the infamous ‘We’re All in This Together’ line which has been trotted out again and again, but seems to have been finally retired lately. I personally don’t think One Nation is a bad line; it’s certainly not as cheesy as we’re all in this together, and has no relations with a dramatic American movie for children. Whether it delivers or not depends on if it is used against Labour in future, only time will tell.
Of course, there's always room for improvement in Ed’s speech; some more coverage on how he and Ed Balls will tackle the deficit would have been perfect, however we still have a long time to go yet before election time and as long as either Ed gives us a solid plan soon I think they could be onto a winner. Other improvements could include discussing green issues more; something largely ignored by all three major parties really, plus there was one bit where Ed said that every millionaire will receive a tax cut, when it was more specific than that if memory serves me correct. All in all though it was strong, and hopefully has done some good to Miliband’s image, and not just to the betting odds.
Two people whose speeches I did really enjoy were Harriet Harman and Yvette Cooper’s. I have no qualms with either of their speeches except to say that they raised lots of good points and were clear in direction.
Apart from the speeches, what else went on during the Labour Conference? A school girl was heckled in a moment which I have no wishes to defend; whoever did try and spoil her moments with a thoughtless comment deserved to be berated for it, and was- it would be wrong to assume all Labour members look down on people from more privileged backgrounds or from private schools because this is simply not the case- the person who sent out the heckle was dealt with accordingly from what I’ve read about it. Altogether it was definitely a good conference for me to watch, maybe not the most exciting but certainly very interesting throughout.
The final of the main parties' conferences is the Conservative Conference. Admittedly I'm not a supporter of the Conservatives, however on the whole it wasn't a total disaster. The two speeches I remember clearest from this conference are George Osborne and David Cameron’s. Starting with Osborne, his plan to let workers trade rights for shares is just ridiculously flawed, and to be honest his whole speech to me read like a manual on how to cause Twitter to explode with rage.
Cameron’s was an improvement; for his audience I’m pretty sure it will have been very warmly received, and whilst it didn’t work for me, just like I suspect Miliband’s didn’t for others, I can acknowledge his message was loud and confident. My main problem with it however has got to be the content. It’s all very well being professional and clear, but if I disagree with what you’re actually preaching chances are you can’t win my support, and nor would want to. For example, Cameron failed to mention the police even once, and didn’t even attempt to justify the NHS reforms.
Whilst I’m on the subject of speeches, I just have to discuss Boris Johnson. Certainly one of the most recognizable political figures, his speech was always going to be a bit of light relief, even if it is surrounded with political meaning. I have to be honest and admit not to be a fan of Boris; his bouffant can be described as ‘quite nice’ on a good day, and he does have some good one liners but I can’t help but think what lies underneath is a very heavily right wing Conservative with horrible views, hiding under this ‘mask’ to get people’s support. His speech was more cheerful than Cameron’s and (according to my notes anyway) largely involved him shoehorning dancing to the woeful (yet catchy) Gangnam Style in, though I suspect he used it more so as a perfect opportunity to lie the Cameron VS Johnson rumours to bed than because he actually liked the song. He also at one stage got a One Direction reference in, to do with a squirrel attacking one of them in one way. I do admit defeat on that one; I suspect he knows more than One Direction than me, though I’m quite happy in my One Direction ignorance filled world for now.
In more general conference on-goings, Andrew Mitchell did not attend in the end because of the controversy over his alleged Pleb remarks which he may or may not have lied about. This story has been around a while now and whilst not particularly relevant to the conference has still been frequently mentioned throughout. Grant Shapps meanwhile attended countless events at the conference in his new role as Chairman and has arguably been the biggest rise to fame in the last month or so; it’s quite strange to think just over a month ago I had little interest in who he is, and now I have a whole virtual database on all the mistakes he’s done at some point so far. (Well, him or Michael Green, it does depend)
I don't wish to totally bypass the other conferences but in SNPs case I have to seeing as at the time of writing it has not occurred yet. I only really remember vague details on the UKIP and Green conferences now, however I shall list them for your benefit. One thing I do recall about the UKIP conference is Nigel Farage’s speech. I’m not a fan of Nigel or the UKIP in general, however his speech was fascinating in the fact it talked about a possible deal that UKIP could go in with the Conservatives. It was played down in the end, however still does seem to be an outsider possibility. The Green Party meanwhile introduced their new promising leader, Natalie Bennett, who in turn used her speech to accuse Labour of being a failing alternative. So far I am quite a fan of Natalie despite her disapproval of Labour, whether that will change in future weeks I am not sure but at the current point in time I think she seems to be promising something unique. That is certainly unusual for me- I rarely wish well on politicians, but I do really hope she sparkles more in the coming months.
To conclude, has conference season changed much? Probably not. I very much doubt it will change many people's minds on which party to support, nor will it affect the polls too much in the long run once the initial ups and downs have been steadied. However the conference's do work as a way for parties to gather together, discus ideas, meet some future friends and for politicians reassure their members they haven't totally gone cuckoo over their extravagant holidays in places like France, Spain, Italy, Cornwall, wherever else. I certainly enjoyed them all, even the parties I don’t support are still intriguing to watch to see if they mess up or do something ridiculous. (HINT: they almost always do) I hope you’ve enjoyed this and it covered all the basics without going on too much; it has been a pleasure to write.
