The Conservative Party faced a number of challenges this week at their conference in Manchester but they came through all of them with flying colours. The constant presence of protestors at the entrance to the conference actually seemed to bind party members together in a belief that they were doing the right thing rather than making them question the approach of the majority Conservative government.
The party also avoided being seen as too triumphant in the face of their impressive, and largely unexpected, election win. The Conference was efficient, slick and well-organised and speeches were designed to secure media attention. The contrast with Labour’s conference the week before could not have been more stark.
So what can we learn from the political news this week?
- Europe – whilst the party leadership was desperate not to talk about Europe, those at the conference certainly were. The fringe meetings with queues out of the door were those focused on Britain’s future in Europe. A potential fissure in the party remains but everyone seemed willing to give David Cameron the benefit of any doubt at least until a deal has been struck with Europe.
- George the master strategist – the announcement that Labour peer, Lord Adonis, was to head a new National Infrastructure Commission was a classic conference announcement. Despite the original idea coming from Labour and being in their election manifesto, Osborne was quite happy to acknowledge that he was picking their pocket. A sign of the disarray this caused for Labour was shown in their reaction to the announcement. Either by becoming a cross bencher Adonis was showing that he was a “shallow opportunist” (despite retaining his party membership) or that the establishment of the Commission was a sign that Labour was right.
- Breaking the unwritten rule – Jeremy Corbyn broke the unwritten rule of interrupting the conference of a rival party by turning up in Manchester for a protest rally. With the invitation to attend accepted before he became party leader, Corbyn decided to keep to his promise. This could change the way that conferences are conducted in future.
- Who’s next – the only real area of intrigue at the conference was who was doing what to position themselves as the leader post-Cameron. Nicky Morgan has apparently booked a UK-wide tour of constituency parties to bolster her standing whilst Boris and Theresa slugged it out in their speeches. Osborne meanwhile, according to Conservative Home, continues to be the frontrunner but they rarely win in the end.
- The shopping zone – contained the usual array of charities, NGOs and corporates, the exhibition area contained a shopping zone (or ‘market place’ as it was officially called) that would have been the envy of many high streets – from jewellery thorough to fashion, wine to fishing tackle. Sadly the nearby ‘party zone’ was not an area for socialising but for official groups within the party to promote themselves.