The true meaning of conference

It’s beginning to look a lot like conference…

For true believers, it is the most important time of the year. For them, the congregation will gather, the rituals will be performed, and the traditional celebratory songs will be sung. These rituals are important to the faithful. However much people outside of the faith scoff at the meaningfulness of what happens, it means something to them – and that matters.

For the positive agnostics, it’s a chance to gather with loved ones you don’t see for the rest of the year. Values and beliefs will be contested and reaffirmed – sometimes within the formal rituals, but more often over a glass of wine or two (or three). There will be laughter, tears, bickering, hugs and all the signs of a familial gathering – sometimes fractious, sometimes loving.

Some say it’s all too commercial these days – and those shelling out for this year’s ‘must haves’ might agree.

Utterly baffling?

From the outside, party conferences may seem utterly baffling. Why are people voluntarily giving up their precious time to go and listen to a bunch of politicians deliver not just one speech in the hall, but dozens around the fringe events?

But for those of us who have been attending for decades and for those for whom this will be their first time, it is an exciting chance to engage in person with the people you have invested your time, money, energy, hopes and shoe leather in, in person. At conference, you can stand next to the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer as they tour the receptions. You can hear your favourite cabinet members speak at fringes on a dizzying range of topics. That backbencher you’ve always admired? You can buy them a pint or join them in a 2am sing song around the piano (this is less likely to feature pop star Billy Bragg these days, but that used to be something of a conference staple) or sing a duet with them at the legendary LabourList karaoke.

As we all discovered during Covid, being together matters. There is a reason why all major religions have regular visits to church, synagogue, mosque or temple as a major part of their function. The sense of community you get from doing things in person, together is one of the best ways of building the kind of strong bonds that movements need to thrive.

Convention or conference?

Conference used to have more power to make decisions in the party. As our polling has shown, many members would like to see that returned. Leaderships over the years have generally tried to stop this happening though.

There are many hurdles to actually getting a motion to be discussed at conference at all. First it must gain Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC) – the elected body that oversees all aspects of conference – approval. Motions must be deemed to be ‘contemporary’ – i.e. related to events that have happened since the National Policy Forum reported in August. They must also be on a single topic.

Then there is the priorities ballot, where delegates vote on which topics covered generally by those motions submitted and allowed will reach the floor. There is a separate vote on topics suggested by CLP delegates and those suggested by affiliated union members, and the number of these is set by the CAC.

Finally, there is the ‘compositing meeting’ – the eve of conference meeting where delegates who have proposed motions that have passed the dual hurdles of being found contemporary (or emergency) and on topics delegates have deemed a priority seek to agree a ‘composite’ of the final wording that will be put to conference. This meeting is pretty legendary (well in the, let’s face it, narrow circles where Labour Party procedures can be considered “legendary”) with fights over wording sometimes going long into the night.

The final motions that come out of those discussions is then proposed, seconded and debated and voted on by delegates on the conference floor.

How democratic – or otherwise – this process can be is generally seen as a split between the ‘Bennite’ left and the ‘Blairite’ right. Those on the left will argue that they prioritise the views of Labour members to set the Party’s agenda at their own conference. The right will argue that conference should focus on the priorities of all voters be more geared to portraying the party as offering a united ‘electable’ programme to the country. This may be, though, because the Left has rarely been in charge in the party. When they were, under Corbyn, the machinations traditionally enacted by all leaderships were equally brought to bear on all of the elements above – most noticeably on discussions around Brexit.

‘What happens at conference stays at conference?’

Much like the Edinburgh International Festival, the conference fringe – and the social life around it – have largely outgrown the conference itself. While all of the business of conference outlined above is hotly contested, the fringe is far more freewheeling, with all the possibilities of dissent, surprise and challenge this brings.

While the business of the actual conference remains the focus for many delegates and media interest, the stage management of this process has also pushed much of the intrigue into the venues and bars around the fringe.

It is perfectly possibly to attend conference and never once go near the main hall. In fact, the vast majority of those heading to Liverpool this year will do precisely that. Some will be lobbyists – from huge corporations to tiny charities; some will be there with Labour-affiliated or adjacent organisations who are putting on a huge programme of their own events on the fringe. Some will just be Labour members who haven’t been selected by their CLPs but still want to attend conference as observers.

This bringing together of thousands of people in a small, quite self-contained arena means it is a chance for a great deal of networking, socialising, plotting and scheming. While ‘what happens at conference stays at conference’ has become something of a saying, it simply isn’t true. Friendships – and sometimes even romantic relationships – are forged there that can last a lifetime. Plots can be fomented there that are brought back to SW1 and explode later in the year.

Enjoy yourself (but it might be later than you think)

I love conference. I first attended, aged 19, in 1994 (yes, I was in the room when Tony Blair announced the change to Clause IV- though I had no idea what was really going on!). Since coming to work in politics in 2002, I have been almost every year since. I’ve spoken from the platform, I’ve danced with Cabinet members, I’ve argued far too late into the night passionately about issues I can now barely remember. I’ve put on hugely ambitious fringe programmes and spoken on countless fringe platforms.

This will be my first conference as Editor of LabourList. Older and wiser (I hope) than that naive 19-year-old who first went to Blackpool, I am looking forward to using this opportunity to meet as many readers as possible. And to working with the fantastic team at LabourList to report back on everything we see and hear – the good (we might be the only media outlet that will tell that part of the whole story), the bad and the whacky.

So if you’re going to conference, stop me and say hello!