Tweet Every year the monster of getting as many members as possible to a conference rears its ugly and expensive head. Hundreds of 14 to 26 year-old members will be heading to Leicester in March for Labour’s Youth Conference, but it’s not really a question of “is there any room at the inn?” Instead, “There’s [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Party democracy’
Labour candidate selection: UPDATE
Jan 24th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.Tweet Yesterday we reported on changes to Labour’s parliamentary candidate selection procedures. We did so on having spoken to members of the executive about the meeting and the content of the papers they had received. Unfortunately, we got it wrong in some respects — and fortunately the changes turn out to be better than we’d [...]
Labour executive tinkers with candidate selection but radical surgery needed
Jan 23rd, 2013 by Jon Lansman.Tweet (With Postscript on by-elections and late selections and please also see this update) Selecting a parliamentary candidate in a winnable seat is perhaps the greatest influence a party member has on the political process. And it might happen only once in 20 or 30 years. You would think Labour’s national executive would give it [...]
Let’s make Young Labour accountable
Oct 23rd, 2012 by Conrad Landin.Tweet As elections for the national committee of Young Labour loom on the horizon, young members will be asking: what did they ever do for us? You might think this unfair. It’s possible that the committee members work very hard (I know, in fact, of a number that do.) But with no accountability and no [...]
The state of party conference: fixing, stage management and interior decoration
Oct 9th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.Tweet Labour conference last week was as frustrating as ever. Stage management is thriving: new decor, billowing flags, ever changing sofa arrangements. Orchestrated panel discussions on the sofa and lectures from American philosophers still take precedence over delegates. Much effort is still made to control what gets onto the agenda, and who gets to speak. [...]
Party democracy and the pay freeze: Ed answers
Oct 3rd, 2012 by Newsdesk.Tweet Ed Miliband took questions from Labour delegates this afternoon in a wide-ranging session that covered everything from school food to Trident. A member of the party’s policy forum, speaking after the session, commented: “I’ve never seen a Q&A so free. I’m used to this slot being stage-managed and controlled.” He received one of his [...]
Ed fails to deliver on his promise of empowering members
Sep 26th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.Tweet At Labour’s national executive yesterday, Ed Miliband failed to deliver on his leadership campaign promise to give members more say in policy making. The final package of Refounding Labour measures they have agreed is shrouded in the language of empowering members, as were those introduced by Tony Blair in 1997 and Gordon Brown in 2007. The [...]
Scottish Labour’s night of the long knives
Sep 18th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.Tweet Devolution within the UK Labour Party came alive this week at Labour’s John Smith House HQ in Glasgow when Johann Lamont showed her mettle in a cull of senior party figures. Party General Secretary since 2008, Colin Smyth, will leave his post shortly, he announced to staff this morning. Rami Okasha, the party’s head [...]
Why Labour conference must be saved – and how to do it
Sep 14th, 2012 by Conrad Landin.There is a way to make party conference – and the Labour party – a worthwhile, democratic body, and save a load of money in the process. Make conference shorter by all means, but not at the expense of democracy.
Time for motions to Labour conference (though they’ll do their best to stop you)
Aug 23rd, 2012 by Jon Lansman.Tweet You have only four weeks left to submit motions to Labour’s annual conference in Manchester which starts on 30 September. The deadline for submission is 12 noon on Friday 21 September (here’s the letter inviting them). We set out below some draft motions which have been proposed by CLPD and Labour CND which you may [...]
