Conference diaries...

Clive Lewis
at the autumn conference season...

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Clive Lewis at the Labour conference...

Sunday 23 September

Home sweet home...

I arrived at my new home for the next few days. An underground car park.(underneath Bournemouth International Centre).

Complete with a parking meter, heavy set concrete ceiling and breeze block walls it had the feel of a post nuclear command and control bunker.

I'm convinced some labour apparatchik was still smirking away to themselves, pleased at their decision to send us into this (carpeted believe it or not) dungeon.

That's until a colleague informed me we're always put down here, whatever party holds it's conference here.

Charming.

Monday 24 September

Election fever, as expected, is gripping this conference with a large clunking fist.

To go or not to go.

That is the question and every MP, delegate, journalist and fringe junkie has become obsessed with it this week.

BBC Chief Political reporter Nick Robinson has says he's been 'pulling his hair out' about the issue. If you've seen his head you'll know Gordon had better hurry up and decide.

3pm

Gordon's speech had a carnival like atmosphere. Entrance was ticket only with queue's stretching and winding the length of the conference venue. I have to admit even I felt the sense of occasion emanating from delegates. By the time I sat down I was actually quite excited!

The Harman Brown double act

It was as speeches go a decent one. He stumbled over a few words. "Children struggling in 'maths'", became "'children struggling in 'mars'."

When Gordon promised to 'reach out' no one thought he meant that far.

There was of course a joke. It got a laugh, although possibly one tinged more with relief that he'd pulled it off rather than mirth. You see Gordon doesn't do jokes.

Whether telling the same amusing anecdotes and gags at the different regional receptions or putting on his awkward practised smile when trying to look delighted, he still looks so uneasy around people.

It shows no sign of changing.

It's who Gordon is. And strangely enough I get the impression the rank and file here love him for it.

When it comes to charm and jokes and style he's no Tony Blair.

Which is precisely the point.

Tuesday 27 September

Is the political arena a duller place without Prescott?

Well it all seems a bit of anti-climax now.

Gordon's speech, which has certainly put a spring in the step of this conference (as if it needed one), has left me and many of my colleagues wondering "what now?"

At the other two party conferences the leader's speech is the culmination of the week's events. It's where the party leader either cements a successful conference or attempts a last minute reprieve for an otherwise awful spectacle.

In past years at least you had the prospect of the highly entertaining, gaff prone, lectern thumping two jags, two women one punch 'Prezza' Prescott to look forward to.

Ah, the good old days eh? A real heavyweight counterbalance, in every sense of the word, at the other end of conference.

But not anymore.

Somehow Harriet Harman doesn't have quite the same box office appeal.

At least we had the Fringes i told myself...

Wednesday 28 September

The Fringes I've attended have been pretty appalling.

I'm told this phenomenon grew up in response to the rise of the stage managed, spin induced, message driven, policy-less conferences that we now find ourselves with.

Gone are the days of real debate and policy making. Real passion, real emotion, real leadership embarrassment (oh how they used to squirm on the top stage!).

The Fringe is a poor, poor substitute.

Even if they worked as they should - a real forum for debate and new political ideas - they'd still be little more than highly entertaining and interesting talking shops.

As it is, they're not even that.

They're usually held in far flung hotel rooms. On the stage are an assortment of establishment politicians, quangocrats and self proclaimed spokesman.

They witter away for about 50 minutes as the assembled crowd munch on their free lunch (often the deciding factor for attending).

It's then opened up to the floor for questions or as is usually the case a series of mini-speeches.

Political parties need to win elections. This I understand. But at what price to our democracy is it being achieved?

People wonder why party political membership is declining. Why so many people are disengaged from the political system.

I'm afraid to say attending these conferences is providing me with a very clear answer.

Thursday 29 September

A pensive period looms for Brown

Gordon Brown and is high command couldn't have asked for a better conference.

This was his official coronation as Labour Party leader and prime minister.

The party seemed unified in purpose and surprisingly as hungry as ever for power.

Gordon Brown's speech reached out unashamedly for Tory voters.

No lurch to the left as some predicted. He doesn't need to.

Despite the rhetoric, the party rank and file feel instinctively that he is "one of them".

He has a freedom of manoeuvre David Cameron must enviously covert.

This conference has been the perfect Springboard for a snap autumn election.

How David Cameron and his party performs will probably be the deciding factor in Mr Brown's election deliberations.

Next week will be a fiery forge for Mr Cameron.

Either he (and his party) will go into melt down or he'll come through it, forged stronger and more confident.

These are exciting times

Clive Lewis at the Lib Dem conference...

Sir Menzies Campbell leading from the front

Wednesday 19 September...

Ivan to know the future...

Predictions of a snap election were being taken seriously at the beginning of the week here.

The party's chief of staff told us his party was not only taking the possibility seriously it was actually champing at the bit and for one. "Bring it on", he said.

But the hastily printed snap election posters have now all but disappeared. Collectors items no doubt.

What a difference a few days and the near collapse of a bank makes.

Trying to predict the future of any political event is not without risk.

I did it very publicly earlier in the week.

I said there wouldn't be a snap election.

I've now been snatching the papers every morning, fearful of imminent humiliation.

So far so good.

But whilst I might not have had much confidence in my own ability to predict the future I had higher hopes for Ivan the Mystic.

His gypsy wagon sits precariously close to one edge of Brighton Peer.

I entered the cramped cabin eager to know the fortunes of the Liberal Democrats in our region.

Had their conference helped or hindered their electoral chances?

Had Bob Russell's MP's call for a "windfall tax" on arms manufacturers, to compensate the families of troops killed in action, resonated with his Colchester constituency?

Had Norman Lamb MP's suggestion that abusive drunks could be charged for NHS treatment gone down more like matron's medicine than a smooth malt whisky?

I needed to know.

He shuffled the tarot cards unconvincingly. This was obviously a part time job.

I listened to his vague ramblings.

I left none the wiser and £20 poorer.

Political predictions are for fools and suckers I decided.

Tuesday 18 September...

Ten of the best...

Who says I'm too old..?

Today I had an audience with the king.

King Ming to be precise.

Despite whispered rumours of regicide, the old boy is still up there, sitting pretty.

And "up there" is exactly where I had to go for my audience with him.

He was holding court high up in the aptly named Grand Hotel.

I soon found myself in a waiting room with a variety of political editors and reporters.

We'd been carefully scheduled and given no more than 10 minutes with his Excellency.

A door separated us from the suite now converted into a studio.

It was a pensive atmosphere and quiet too.

We all strained to hear what was being said next door. Eyes shifted uneasily. No one wanted eye contact. The silence was oppressive. It was bizarre.

I found myself with butterflies! Who was interviewing who, I asked myself?!

The voices coming from the other side of the door would rise and fall.

It really felt like I was waiting in the naughty boy's office.

My fate about to be decided by headmaster, Ming the Merciless.

The door suddenly opened. It was my turn.

A political editor shuffled hastily past me.

I bumbled in and said, "Sir I didn't do it!".

I explained the comment. The King laughed and his acolytes followed. The ice was broken.

He still gave me a beating.

Mercifully it was only in the interview.

Monday 17 September...

Sir Menzies Campbell practices levitation...

Did someone say feudal Europe?

The Liberal Democrats are on a mission.

It's a mission to establish some clear emerald green water between themselves and the other two main political parties... particularly Cameron's Tories.

As such there's an urgency to this conference.

When you ask Lib Dem's if this is the party's electoral high watermark they dismiss the suggestion. But no matter how brave a face they put on their current predicament, you can smell the fear.

Cameron's party is looking hungrily at the dozens of seats the Liberal democrats have snatched from them in the past 10 years or so and they know it.

The battle ground they've chosen to face them on... is the environment.

This is to be their "green" conference.

As one activist implored delegates from the podium today: "We need a green backbone running throughout every single one of our policies."

But there's no guarantee they can pull it off.

John Gummer's "Quality of Life" report is a pretty radical document when it comes to the environment.

But Liberal Democrat proposals for all cars in the UK to be carbon neutral by 2040 and the whole British economy to be the same by 2050, might just be radical enough to secure King Ming his green crown back.

Farage anti Euro king at the fringe

Talking of crowns, the king of Euro-scepticism, the arch enemy of every EU loving Lib Dem was at one of the party's fringe conferences today.

Nigel Farage, UKIP MEP was debating the whether the UK should have a referendum on the reformed EU treaty.

Most Europhiles know it's a referendum they'd probably loose.

Hence Ming Campbell's new stance to go for broke and ask the British people if they want to be in the EU or not. It's clearly a risky strategy.

One disgusted Lib Dem Euphoria jumped up and compared it to offering the public a choice between universal suffrage or a return to feudalism!

For quite possibly the first time ever, Mr Farage finds himself agreeing with the Lib Dem leader on Europe.

"Bring it on", he quipped, it's long overdue!

Stranger bedfellows I've never seen.

Sunday 16 September...

Final preparations...

Old men, beards and sandals

I'll let you into a secret.

This is my first ever Liberal Democrat Party political conference.

So I've come to Brighton with an open mind and as few preconceptions as possible.

As I walked into the conference centre, the first Liberal Democrat I encountered had a beard and sported a pair of open toed sandals.

I can't be sure, but I think they were made of hemp.

Of course, as I walked further into the hall, the rich and diverse tapestry of members confronted me.

A variety of ages, gender and race. I noted most weren't wearing sandals or sporting beards.

A conference full of well meaning, bearded eccentrics isn't what I expected (with the exception of Sandi Toksvig).

What I was expecting was a party with a pall of gloom hanging over it.

This has been a poor summer for the Liberal Democrats.

As Brown and Cameron slugged it out, the third party of British politics struggled to make it self heard.

Policy announcements fell on deaf ears.

The media all but forgot them. They tumbled in the polls.

They say we're a society that ignores it's senior citizens, treats them as if they're invisible. Ming Campbell must now know this feeling.

Inevitably the spotlight has fallen on his age and his leadership. The Sunday papers were full of it. One of them claimed to have seen a leaked strategy memo advising the party to tackle the issue of his 66 years head on.

Colchester MP Bob Russell certainly did. As I interviewed him about various topics he kept coming back to the issue of Ming's age and what a strength it was.

We struggled to talk about anything else.

And that's the line the party seems to have adopted at this conference. They could have self-imploded (like many hope the Tories will at their conference) but they haven't.

Instead they've decided to show the world they're beardy, sandal wearing Green credentials.

More on that tomorrow...

Let us know on the e-mail form below what your thoughts are...

Join the Politics Show team on Sunday 30 September 2007 at 13:35 BST on BBC One.

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