Labour Party Conference: A postcard from Bournemouth

The end of the summer signals the start of the Party Conference season when the elder statesmen of the political parties rub shoulders with the grass roots workers and, theoretically at least, it's possible to find yourself with the type of access to Government Ministers which is normally the preserve of the lobbyists and the corporate giants.

The Party Conference season officially got underway last week but without too much outside activity when the Lib Dems had their annual get-together. However, the real action started in Bournemouth this week when the Labour Party turned out in force to support their leader or whisper disloyal mutterings about the prospect of a 'GB' leadership bid. UKTECH was there too.

The televised activity takes place on the conference floor but as veteran conference goers will appreciate, the real action is in the bars, restaurants and fringe meetings outside the Conference Hall.

Bournemouth

Bournemouth is transformed for a week when the political road-show hits town - much to the annoyance of residents and, particularly taxi drivers, who are in constant demand for short-haul trips as attendees try to get from one location to another 300 yards away but, in the case of Bournemouth, it's usually up what seems like a mountain.

Local hoteliers view it as a blessing and a curse - rooms are at a premium, but, as in the case of our B&B manager, too short term, as he wouldn't rent out his rooms for a few days to political day-trippers and lose his regular year-rounder clientele of, co-incidentally, contractors.

Conference categories

Every lobbyist, charity, pressure group, corporate organisation, political reporter and Party leaflet distributor, descends on the chosen sea-side venue with their own agendas and hit lists of must-do, must-see events and people.

The Party conference attendees fall into several categories:

• The politicians - ranging from Prime Minister through to back-bench MPs who - given there are only about 350 of them - are in great demand for a passing chat with more than 20,000 people.
  
• The Party activists - many of them are volunteers. Their commitment varies from those intent to make a speech from the platform for their Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame to those who are happy to catch a passing glance of a Cabinet Minister and collect as many 'goody bags' from fringe meetings and exhibition stands as possible.
  
• The professional conference goers - I should declare an interest at this point and say that I fall into this category. These cover political lobbyists, corporate representatives and journalists - at one point during the past 15 years I've fallen into each category. They form a kind of sub-culture at Party Conference, usually with frenetic programmes during the day 'I'm off to the Swampboot Collectors Fringe Meeting because Patricia Hewitt is there and I need a quick word with her about export control on refrigerators'. Each ten second meeting with a Minister is ticked off, logged down and followed up back in London with a letter that usually starts....'Following our conversation at Party Conference, you will recall you asked me to write to you about......'

Professional conference goers

The 'professional conference goers' have their own separate conferences running simultaneously as most of us don't get together with such ease and geographical availability during the rest of the year, and friendships and associations which have died in the previous 11 months and 2 weeks are rekindled with renewed vigour as plans are made to meet up 'later' in the day.

'Later' usually means what is the best reception to go to post-10pm. Corporate organisations frequently host receptions and, in the case of Bournemouth, the designated conference hotel, the Highcliffe, erects marquees to cope with the demand.

Top of the list at Labour is clearly 'Northern Night' attended by Northern MPs, Northern party activists and the 'professional conference goers'. Prime Minister, Tony Blair, himself a Northern MP, always puts in an appearance - last year as warm-up act for the star guests, former US President Bill Clinton and actor Kevin Spacey. This year, he was the warm-up act for 'The Animals', but it was clear he was not only speaking to the Party faithful, but a fair number of his own local heroes - as well as those who wanted The Animals to start.

'Anyone here from Sedgefield?' he enquired - as a section of the hall went ballistic.

The Animals were a great leveller as MPs relived their youth alongside usual sworn enemies and opponents as well as friends, in the form of political editors, corporate executives, journalists, party workers from Northern constituencies and lobbyists. And, yes, - somewhere between 'The House of the Rising Sun' and 'We've gotta get out of this place', I gave a dance floor briefing to the Chair of a Parliamentary Committee about some of the issues affecting freelancers and tried to interest a national newspaper in the fast track visas issues. (Note: must send follow up letter!)

Fringe

Another major - but sometimes neglected aspect of Party Conference is the fringe programme. Every room capable of holding more than a dozen people and within a mile radius of the Conference centre is booked up months in advance by corporates, charities and interest groups who want to hold their own meeting, with their own agenda and press their own point.

The competition for 'bodies' to sit on seats is immense. Some organisations can achieve this with high budget refreshments and actively promote the fact they have 'hot' food and 'cold' wine. Pork pies generally guarantee an extra dozen people on seats.

A greater pull for attendees is to have a Minister on the platform. UKTECH sponsored a fringe run by Philip Ross of the Labour Small Business Forum (budget only permitted teas and coffees so we knew anyone who attended was actually interested in our subject rather than our refreshments!).

Philip had secured the attendance of two Government Ministers - Nigel Griffiths (DTI - Small Business) and John Healey (Economic Secretary to the Treasury) as well as Kerry Pollard, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Small Business Group, which gave us a heavy-weight panel.

To a certain extent, this was venturing into new territory. It was the first time that a fringe relating to small businesses and freelancers had been organised by a group which had close ties within - rather than outside - the Labour Party. We also didn't know whether the climb up the hill to the venue and the lack of pork pies might, together, prove too great a barrier for attendance.

Leafleting

Outside the main conference Hall, there is an area where people can 'leaflet' delegates and conference attendees. It's something similar to the Gladiators event with the 'pugil sticks' - the intention of delegates is to get to the end of it without twice as much baggage as you started off with, the intention of the leafleting protagonists is to stop you.

Squashed somewhere between a 'Troops out of Iraq' leafleteer and 'Ban Hunting' supporter, Philip gamely said 'Small Business' to every passer-by.

Surprisingly - or maybe not - many stopped, took leaflets and later attended our fringe. Not because they had it on their agenda, but because they, or their husband or wife or friend, ran a small business.

On the night

On the night - it was alright. We had booked a room for 30 people - and more than double that number appeared.

On a serious note, it has guaranteed that small businesses - which had, on the one hand, been neglected in the past, and on the other, presented Ministers with the prospect of a hostile and unreceptive audience - is on the agenda as a 'must-do' event at Party conference.

It goes without saying that Ministers want to address meetings where the audience significantly outnumbers the panel. They are in huge demand, and, I believe, next year, will be bigger and better - and that small business is beginning to have a not-so-small voice as a recognised and valued part of the UK economy.

.......And next year, we might even stretch to pork pies.