The Brighton Conference Diaries - part two

It began with a windy stroll down Brighton seafront at 10am and ended with a windy stroll back at 1am. The first full day of Conference!

I’d been told that Conference is a great opportunity to network, particularly with MPs and MEPs, in an informal setting that you can’t get elsewhere. Spot on. Lembit Opik provided some entertainment during a morning training session complete with jokes aplenty on English rugby and Romania. That training session - Gotcha! - was one of the better ones I’ve been on, with a real structured approach rather than the haphazard approach of some.

In the afternoon I sat in on my first policy debate over local and regional government and had the chance to vote for the first time. The quality of the speeches was high with some very interesting points made on unitary authorities, from Exeter in particular.

Then, the rally. First up to the leadership plate this Conference was Nick Clegg who delivered an excellent speech. I’ve always been impressed with Nick’s speaking. His method of delivery does at times remind me of Cameron, but with two vitally important differences - substance and integrity. An inspirational speech followed from Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, who criticised Lib Dem peer Lord Carlile, a point which the press picked up on.

Then came Ming’s first big moment of the week and I have to say, I think he pulled it off. It wasn’t the most rousing of speeches (I was expecting a little more of the session as a whole) and I was a little perplexed at his ending, but it was considered, appropriate, delivered well and reminded us all of why we are Liberal Democrats. For me that’s what Sunday did. From meeting new people (Kirsten from Reading, hello!) to the local party training, from the debate on local government to the savage destruction of our human and civil rights - as a day it defined why I am a member of this party. It was also a speech full of attacks on the government, on human rights and civil rights, which gave the media plenty to write about (for once)

Unsurprisingly, the blog of the year awards has received plenty of coverage on the blogs already! Because of this I’ll gloss over it, but not before saying what a great evening it was. Congratulations to all the winners and especially Don Liberali for justifying his selection as most humorous blog in fine style, from afar!

Just as I thought my evening was over and I began wandering back to the hotel I bumped into a jolly Colin Ross, who shouted “you can’t go home yet, come and meet some London people” and dragged me into the Grand for the London reception. It was here I discovered another perk of conference - free wine! Thank you very much London and a hello to everyone I met, although an attempt to list names is perhaps unwise - it all got a little cloudy here.