The party conference season has kicked off with the Lib Dems arriving in Bournemouth. Despite titillating the media with promises of defections from Labour, which brought them some much needed attention, the Lib Dems were really focused on starting the business of rebuilding. Farron’s job was to enthuse the party members and, supported by the ‘big beasts’ in the party, Clegg, Cable and Ashdown, he made a good start.
The fun for Bournemouth was not over though! The Lib Dems were followed by the Greens. Meanwhile, in Doncaster, UKIP are meeting and few will have been surprised by Farage’s comments that his priority is not the party but getting Britain out of Europe.
So what can we learn from the political news this week?
- The Lib Dems are alive. By all accounts, the Lib Dems had a good conference. The scale of the challenge was underestimated by no-one but they showed that conferences can be unifying. Whether Labour will heed that lesson we will find out in the coming days.
- Lynton is the man. Fresh on the heels of helping the Conservatives win the General Election, Lynton Crosby and his firm have been offered work helping one of the ‘No’ to the EU campaigns as well being approach by the ‘Yes’ side as well. His no to both was though a qualified no, believing that it was too early to get involved ahead of the renegotiation process. So a sort of Vicky Pollard ‘yeah but no but’.
- Politicians love getting involved. Whether it is the fundraising of charities or testing emissions from cars, politicians cannot resist making comments and launching an initiative / study / inquiry. If it’s in the media then a political intervention will not be far behind.
- Love’s Labour’s Lost. The party’s conference in Brighton will be one of the most interesting for years. Many are saying what they think might happen but frankly no-one knows. The immediate political death of Corbyn, not least given the size of his victory, looks extremely unlikely and that gives him time to build his project. Whilst Lord Mandelson, says it’s too early to force Corbyn out, his opponents do not appear to give any credence to the idea that a Corbyn project can be built and be successful electorally. We wait to see who is right.
- There is no such thing as life before politics. As David Cameron found out to his considerable embarrassment this week, what you do in your youth is considered fair game should you stand for office. However, the rise of social media means that the chances of keeping such alleged activities quiet nowadays is much less. Can you imagine someone not putting a video on YouTube, tweeting a picture or Instagraming that….?