Posts Tagged ‘Labour Conference’

Porn, fags and Big Macs: Labour and the ethics of business donations

by David Osland.

Back in 2002, New Labour accepted a £100,000 donation from Daily Express proprietor Richard Desmond, a man who made his original fortune from printing pornographic publications under such lurid titles as The Very Best of Mega Boobs and – hey, let’s not be squeamish, because Blair certainly wasn’t – Spunk Loving Sluts. Questioned on the issue, […]

Labour and the Big Mac: Snobbery or principle?

by Phil Burton-Cartledge.

What kind of company should be allowed to have a corporate stand at Labour Party conference? Should all-comers be taken provided they stump up the readies, or as a minimum are they expected to subscribe to a set of standards around employment relations, trade union recognition, and ethical practices (whatever they are)? I ask because […]

Conference 2015: The Left makes gains on the NEC and policy

by James Elliott.

While most media commentators, predictably, have focused on the big set-piece speeches from Corbyn, McDonnell and Watson, the first annual conference under the new leadership saw the first green shoots of party democracy. Media presentation and effective communication of the party’s popular messages is of course vital, but so too is getting those policies endorsed […]

Time to get your contemporary motions in for Labour’s conference

by Jon Lansman.

This year, Labour’s national policy forum did not agree to a single minority report. Nor did any policy papers include even a single option for decision by conference. This means that meaningful policy debates at this year’s conference, the last before the general election, can only happen on the basis of contemporary and emergency motions. The […]

Fixing the annual upside-down spectacle of Labour conference

by Conrad Landin.

As this year’s Labour party conference fades into the abyss, I can’t help recalling a sentence spoken to me outside the Brighton centre on a bright morning towards the end of the week: “Our delegates find that the most interesting part of conference is the fringe.” The speaker was a newly-selected parliamentary candidate, and we […]

Bring back democracy to Labour’s conference and discipline corrupt party officials

by Michael Meacher.

Labour’s annual conference has long been a machine operation designed to showcase the Leader’s speech and to suppress any serious discussion of other controversial matters (and the Tory party conference is, if anything, even more orchestrated). It is done to convey a contented and anodyne impression for the television cameras, and the result is of […]

What this Labour conference should be about

by Michael Meacher.

The prime issue at Conference this year won’t be the union link, which may well be resolved by negotiation, but rather what is Labour’s core message. It has got to be setting out the alternative to prolonged austerity which will promote real and sustainable growth (not the shallow and over-hyped version currently on offer), cut […]

How YOUR vote is cast for the conference arrangements committee

by Conrad Landin.

Labour’s constituency branches are increasingly wondering what the point of sending delegates is at all – last year, a whole quarter of constituency branches (CLPs) voted with their feet, and didn’t turn up at all. That’s a quarter of CLPs disenfranchised from numerous votes – but proper participation in conference requires mandating of conference delegates […]

Do Labour whips really want to run its conference too?

by Jon Lansman.

The election for the two constituency party representatives on Labour’s conference arrangements committee (CAC) is hotting up. After the local elections, the two candidates backed by the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance Katy Clark MP and Pete Willsman began campaigning in earnest. Katy has been MP for North Ayrshire and Arran since 2005 and Pete is […]

Labour needs to offer a bold alternative

by Andy Newman.

The briefing meeting by the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) was very well attended this morning, with around 200 people crammed into a basement bar, just a few hundred yards outside the entrance of the Party conference in Manchester. Keynote speeches were given by Jon Trickett and Michael Meacher, as well as Ken Livingstone, Ann […]

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