Conference Feedback, Election Frenzy

Last night’s Haringey LibDem Pizza and Politics in Stroud Green was a debriefing session from those of us who had been at last week’s Brighton conference. I’m always fascinated by how people take away different impressions from conference, or emphasize different things. Partly this reflects people’s varied interests and perspectives, but it is also a result of the fact that the range of debates and fringe events is now so wide that several conference representatives can have totally different experiences. Nonetheless, there was general agreement last night that most of the media had focussed on the non-story of challenges to Ming’s leadership, while ignoring what was actually going on. Even the Guardian made not a mention of the extremely good debate on Israel/Palestine and the position that the Party has taken on the next steps forward.

Labour’s conference is similarly being dogged by the question about whether there will be or won’t be an election over the coming weeks. The Powers That Be at the LibDem HQ in Cowley Street have told everyone to be on standby in case one is called next Monday or Tuesday. It’s probably wise to be prepared. But I can’t help feeling Gordon Brown would be ill advised to go for an autumn poll. An opinion poll today suggests that only 29% of the electorate actually want an election this year. So the bulk of the population would probably not be pleased if one is called and would be difficult to enthuse. Which means that turnout could be lower than ever.