Labour Party Conference 2024: Saturday

Back home after 5 days away at Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. This year I went as a Labour Councillor (self funded apart from the conference fee which is paid out of our ALC subs). Which meant that unlike delegates I could go and see the debates, speeches and fringes that interested me. Mostly about pensions and housing. I did not miss the early morning pre conference delegation meetings either. 

I travelled down with my UNISON and work colleague, Joseph Ogundemuren who is also a Labour Councillor in Hackney but he was part of the UNISON delegation. We travelled by train to Liverpool on the Saturday, to go to the London Labour reception that evening. At the station I passed the statue, once again, of "Battling Bessie Braddock". 

The London Reception was in a huge room in the ACC centre, Albert Docks. The PA was pretty awful but it was well chaired by Dawn Butler MP and I enjoyed the speeches by Prime Minister Keir Starmer (I am still in some way shocked that Labour is in power), London Mayor Sadiq Khan. Foreign Secretary David Lammy and others (many others!).  Keir (A London MP of course) seemed in a particularly good mood and was clearly excited and pleased to be there. 

It was good to meet and chat (aka gossip) with various London Labour Party members, some of which I have known for many years but usually only meet at Conference. 

Saturday had also been Labour Women's Conference which apparently went well. The official Labour conference opened 11am Sunday. I will try and post on my personal Conference experience during the next few days. 

Election can’t come soon enough, says UNISON

Commenting on the Prime Minister’s decision to call a general election on July 4, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea @cmcanea 

“Election day can’t come soon enough. Working people and their families are crying out for a new government in Westminster. “One that values public services, can revitalise the economy and has a vision for the future. “Anyone who has struggled to make ends meet, tried to get an NHS appointment, seen council services savaged or wrangled with a social care sector that’s not fit for purpose will welcome this day. “It’s been clear for months that this government is out of ideas, out of touch and should be out of office.”

Liz is our leader

 

Weird day. Glad Boris is gone but what on earth will Truss be like? Love this tweet by sacked Tory Ministers wife about their new leader. Hope it is not fake :-)

Felicity Cornelius-Mercer

@mercer_felicity

He asked her ‘why would you do this, who is going to be better at this role than me, which of your mates gets the job, you promised a meritocracy?’ PM - I can’t answer that Johnny This system stinks & treats people appallingly Best person I know sacked by an imbecile

@trussliz

Our Prime Minister and his advisors make a traditional halloween announcement on Covid

 nuf said

"Starmer overtakes Johnson as preferred choice for prime minister"

Fantastic news. A long way still to go...

"Labour leader Keir Starmer has overtaken Boris Johnson as the public preferred choice for Prime Minister, according to the latest Opinium poll for The Observer.

Starmer is preferred to lead the country by 37% of voters polled on Thursday and Friday last week, compared with 35% who say Johnson would be the best Prime Minister.

While the Tories remain four points ahead of Starmer’s party on 43% to Labour’s 39%, the gap has closed from over 20% in February and early March when the Tories enjoyed a regular commanding lead as the country rallied behind the government, and Jeremy Corbyn was reaching the end of his time as Labour leader...".

The Guardian 28.6.20 and hat tip Shantu

The Iron Lady

I watched tonight for the first time the film "The Iron Lady" which is about the life of former Tory Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

It was an historical drama and not a documentary. While I would certainly not agree with all the political interpretations it made, I enjoyed watching it.

Thatcher today is very much still a divisive  figure: a hero to some and a hate figure to others.

Under Margaret Thatcher, male unemployment in my part of North East Wales, following closures in the local Steel works and textile factories reached 33%. It was an horrendous time and she seemed to give the impression as PM that she didn't care and just a price worth paying!

So I should really hate her, but I have always preferred to dislike rather than hate. The key thing in politics is to attack what politicians do and say rather than their personalities.

Forgetting the politics (if you can) I was pretty uncomfortable with the scenes in the film around her current  supposed mental health and the involvement of her children, grown up or otherwise. It was more than a bit off I thought and it was simply wrong in my view of the film to bring this up.

The actual acting by Meryl Streep was simply superb and incredible. She was Margaret Thatcher.

As regards to any lessons we can learn from this film for the "left"? Well, yes there is. We all know that there are many working class Tories such as Thatcher and we cannot just ignore them and pretend they do not exist.  It is no use just knocking people who share these beliefs we have to find ways to win them over.

The real lesson from the film is that the "left" needs to learn from Thatcher (of all people) that if you have real self-belief and self-confidence in your arguments it is possible to succeed and bring about fundamental change.  

Harold Wilson: Iconic Labour Picture (6)

Our Harold