Helyn's Party Conference Report
Having paid some attention to the ‘other’ party conferences – I went off to Manchester at the beginning of October to our own party conference. Party conference is important – it’s great to meet up with old friends and make new ones, but especially to listen to the fringe campaigns and the lobbyists and all in all get a serious injection of politics to set up for campaigning. Particularly important this year as we face the general election next year and our best chance of defeating labour for years.
David Cameron started off on Monday afternoon telling us things were tough and likely to get tougher - George Osborne’s speech on Tuesday was very sobering, and left us in no doubt that the country’s finances would have to be addressed – he referred to Labour as ‘Old Mother Hubbard’ and that ‘we are all in this together’ so the Modern Conservatives had to be ready to get the country back on its feet and out of trouble. Chris Grayling told us how he would tackle anti social behaviour and binge drinking, Grant Shappes talking about the need for fair and equitable housing.
On Thursday I queued up for two hours with some new friends from Wolverhampton and Henley and got a great seat in the David Cameron speech and then left the city of Manchester, which although had been sunny was not as upbeat as Birmingham City ( Manchester city council is Labour run and it showed). Dashing down the M6 to Walsall for a weekend of strategic planning and meetings.
