Monday 25 September
The longest day!
I left the house at 08.45 and arrived back at Thirteen thousand people packed into a large space with no natural light and a lot of noise from 09.00 until 17.30 is not really my scene.
But there were lots of high points as well as some low point. Rather sadly a low point came at the start of the day and influenced my mood. The meeting of Labour International, my constituency party, was I think an example of the struggles that are taking place within the party. Change is almost always painful and for many years the organisation of the Labour party has been in the hands of a comparatively small number of people. Now after Corbyn was elected large numbers of people have joined the party, people who want to take part, to make their opinions heard and shape the party. If you have had things all your own way for a long time, then this can be difficult to accept. Some of this was reflected in our meeting yesterday and it left a slightly sour taste in my mouth which affected me until a fire alarm went off accidentally and brought the meeting to an end.
This meeting meant I had missed the opening of the conference and I decided to postop=ne going to the main session until after lunch, instead exploring the stalls that filled the ground floor of the centre.
A few of us left the centre together to look for fresh air and for lunch in a nearby coffee shop and that was when me mood changed completely. We met Ken Loach and his wife and they were unfailingly friendly, interested and warm to everyone who stopped by their table and even though I felt slightly guilty interrupting them yet again, my overwhelming desire to thank Ken Loach for the films he has made overcame it. His films have added so much to my understanding of the world –from Kes, through Land and Freedom, the Wind that Shakes the Barley, Carla’s Song to I, Daniel Blake. He and his wife are as passionate in their desire for justice in the world as I imagine they have ever been, and we agreed that we not going to see the rights that our grandparents fought for, for us, be taken away from our grandchildren, while we had the energy and the health to continue the fight.
Some of the speakers from the floor were quite brilliant, impassioned and powerful, the best today were women. And for me Sara Callaway from Crossroads Women’s centre in the Kentish Town, London was exceptional. I was less impressed by the speeches from the professional politicians.
Another highpoint for me is the unfailing friendly warm attitude of the support staff at conference. The security staff, the police outside, the stewards, some of whom are Labour party supporters who have found a way to finance their attendance at conference, all of them were friendly, helpful and as interested in who I was, why I had come as I in them.
The two evening events had a high and a low. The high, not surprisingly, was the welcome drink with Jeremy Corbyn. There were a dozen competing events but the ballroom was full, of predominately young, ethnically diverse people who were enthusiastic in a totally informal friendly way and Jeremy Corbyn judged the mood perfectly. He was at his most informal, joking, teasing the crowd, enjoying the atmosphere. The reception by Brighton in Council, in the wonderful Brighton pavilion, was a disappointment though, mostly white men in suits and the welcome from the Labour leader a predictable blurb for Brighton.
The last event of the day was perfect, a family supper with old friends from Cardiff in their home in Hove. Perfectly cooked roast chicken and roast potatoes, a glass of wine and normal conversation meant I could relax and when I arrived back at the house I went straight to bed and slept so soundly that I did not hear my house mates return a little later. I missed the drink and the jokes but I had seven hours of perfect sleep.
Monday morning
A good night’ sleep works wonders!
The conference centre did not seem nearly as intimidating this morning. The security staff are almost friends now and I know my way to the toilets, the coffee shop and the stairs to the conference hall without asking.
The first part of the morning was devoted to International Affairs and Emily Thornbury gave a good speech. She has grown in confidence and she carried the hall with her. The debate on Brexit was interesting because speakers from the floor were able to express very different opinions and be listened to with respect. What I heard confirmed my opinion that the Labour leadership is taken the best possible line. The vote, like it or not, was to leave and the negotiations are not in the hand of Labour. We must campaign for the continuation of the rights of people to live and work in Europe and the ability to create jobs. In my opinion the only way to convince the people in the deprived areas of Britain that the EU offers them any benefit is to mitigate the almost forty years of neglect that they have suffered from every government since Thatcher. One way would be to select campaigning activist from these regions as Labour candidates in the next election.
The highlight of the morning for me was John McDonnell speech. It brought tears to my eyes and reminded me of my conversation with Ken Loach yesterday. People of our generation remember from the stories of our parents how hard their life was before the 1945 election ushered in the public services that revolutionised my life. Listening to McDonnell and watching the faces of the thousands standing and cheering in that hall I believed that the spirit of 1945 has risen again. Inspiring.
Lunch in the World Transformed centre. Momentum has organised a wonderful programme of fringe events and this café, social centre id the hub. Full of friendly people and Ann Bonner and I had a great conservation with two women from Northern Ireland. Meeting and talking with other delegates is one of the biggest pleasures for me.
Monday morning
A good night’ sleep works wonders.
The conference centre did not seem nearly as intimidating this morning. The security staff are almost friends now and I know my way to the toilets, the coffee shop and the stairs to the conference hall without asking.
The first part of the morning was devoted to International Affairs and Emily Thornbury gave a good speech. She has grown in confidence and she carried the hall with her. The debate on Brexit was interesting because speakers from the floor were able to express very different opinions and be listened to with respect. What I heard confirmed my opinion that the Labour leadership is taken the best possible line. The vote, like it or not, was to leave and the negotiations are not in the hand of Labour. We must campaign for the continuation of the rights of people to live and work in Europe and the ability to create jobs. In my opinion the only way to convince the people in the deprived areas of Britain that the EU offers them any benefit is to mitigate the almost forty years of neglect that they have suffered from every government since Thatcher. One way would be to select campaigning activist from these regions as Labour candidates in the next election.
The highlight of the morning for me was John MacDonald’s speech. It brought tears to my eyes and reminded me of my conversation with Ken Loach yesterday. People of our generation remember from the stories of our parents how hard their life was before the 1945 election ushered in the public services that revolutionised my life. Listening to MacDonald and watching the faces of the thousands standing and cheering in that hall I believed that the spirit of 1945 has risen again. Inspiring.
Lunch in the World Transformed centre. Momentum has organised a wonderful programme of fringe events and this café, social centre id the hub. Full of friendly people and Ann Bonner and I had a great conservation with two women from Northern Ireland. Meeting and talking with other delegates is one of the biggest pleasures for me.
Tuesday 26 September
The second half of Monday was the most relaxing time so far. Ann Bonner and I took a taxi back to our house and we had a couple of hours to rest, catch up with emails, even time for a short siesta.
It did mean that we misses the speech by Sadiq Khan but I thought that of all the conference headline speeches, his would probably get the most publicity in the mainstream media and I could read about it later.
We returned to the centre in time for a fringe meeting in a pub near the centre to listen to a panel of speakers including John McDonell, Cat Smith, Rebecca Long Bailey and Mark Serwotka talk about the practical necessities for translating the manifesto into government. One of the most inspiring speeches was from Kevin Courtney of the teachers’ union, spelling out how dire the state of the schools in the UK, and how that is affecting the future of children and the health of teachers. He said unambiguously that education must be taken back into public ownership and manged by local government. There were some refreshments available in the meeting but Ann and I were delighted to join three of our fellow delegates for a meal in Pizza Express, one of the treats I miss in Spain, although I can buy their frozen pizzas in our local Iceland store. Good meals with interesting discussions is definitely one of the treats of conference.
Tuesday morning
There were key votes to be taken this morning so it was important to be in the hall the whole time.
I found the details a bit confusing but luckily we were sat all together so the old hands were able to explain some of the finer points to us newcomers. I feel it is a big responsibility to be voting on issues that are so important to the speakers from the floor who spoke with such passion.
One of those issues is the accusations of anti-Semitism that have been made against Labour party members, some of them Jewish themselves. A new organisation for Jewish socialists was launched at the conference and several Jewish women members spoke brilliantly on the subject of anti-Zionism and the distinction between it and anti-Semitism this morning. They spoke movingly of the plight of the Palestinian people and two received standing ovations from the floor of the conference. I hope this means the days of the witch hunts and expulsions are finished.
The financial report, which I expected to be a formality, if a very positive one as Labour is now firmly in the black, was questioned in detail by speakers from the floor. They wanted to know the cost of the Compliance Unit, active in the exclusions and expulsions of members in the past two years. They also queried the pay rises given to the staff employed by the Labour party and several questions were asked about the amount that headquarters passes to Constituency parties. Currently CLPs received £2.50 per member, an increase from the previous £1.50. Several representatives from CLPs complained that they were unable to carry out their activities in an effective way as they lacked the money and that this was unfair as they were bringing in the extra members who paid all the subs.
The chair promised to look at all these questions in detail.
Rebecca Long Bailey spoke about the changes to work and the economy which Labour would bring in once they were in office. It was very well delivered, I thought it was a little light on practical concrete actions.
I spent the lunch break in a Momentum fringe meeting called “Global Justice Now”, with brilliant speakers who were frank about the enormous problems faced by so many people in the world, and how these problems were causing huge mass movements of people. We in the more prosperous west are not facing up to our responsibilities fro having caused many of the underlying problems in the first place.
These problems were also addressed by Naomi Klein in her brilliant conference address. She recounted how the actions of global capitalism after natural disasters, which she described in “the Shock doctrine” are playing out once again in Puerto Rico, where The US government is encouraging the Puerto Rican authorities to give up their public services to private capital, in return for aid in the hurricane destroyed island.
Klein was truly inspiring and the conference audience cheered many times before giving her one of the warmest responses so far. She told us what an inspiration the success of a Labour party with a socialist manifesto was to people all around the world who are eager for change. Her description of the way the terrible things that are happening in the world at the moment are also the motivators for great and positive change reminded me of the line from “ A tale of two cities”, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”
I am so glad I had the opportunity to hear Naomi Klein speak in person, one of the highlights of the conference so far for me.
Wednesday 27 September
The last day of the Labour party conference and Jeremy Corbyn’s speech this morning.
An amazing thing happened first thing today. Last night Ann and I took a taxi to a meal with our fellow Labour International delegates in a pub near their house. We talked with the driver, as we have in every taxi we have taken, about politics and as we drew up to the pub and got out, he was telling us about a “conservative toff” who had asked him where he had got his cockney accent. He had stopped the cab, he said, and asked the man to get out, and as he told the story we could see it had really upset him. As we paid the fare, around £18, so quite a lot for the journey, I gave him a hug and said don’t worry about idiots like the man who had insulted him, but maybe he should vote Labour next time. We parted with fond goodbyes.
This morning we found a five pound note through the letter box, with a post-it note attached. It read
“ I took two ladies to the Parkview Tavern. You paid me too much. Steve”
The build up to Corbyn’s speech this morning was enormous. As the hall started to fill up a choir appeared on the platform and they kept us entertained with songs.
When every seat had been filled and you could feel the excitement all around, on he came to the now-familiar chants of “Oh Jeremy Corbyn”, which the man himself accepted with a deprecating smile. He must be used to it by now.
His speech was everything I could have asked, pledges on climate change – a threat and an opportunity he said and I totally agree. Action on climate change is a spur to create and he promised a nationalised investment bank to fund them. He called for an upgrade to our industrial base, embracing the changes that technological advances are bringing. He said that jobs, rights and a decent standard of living are what every citizen should accept. He called for participatory workers councils in industry to change the way firms are run.
He spoke about the scandalous way social housing and the rights of everyone to a decent place to live has been destroyed by speculation and “regeneration”, often, he said another word for gentrification.
He spoke some lines from Ben Okri’s moving poem about Grenfell Tower
“Those who were living now are dead
Those who were breathing are from the living earth fled.
If you want to see how the poor die, come see Grenfell Tower.
See the tower, and let a world-changing dream flower”
It brought tears to my eyes, and, I rather thought, to Jeremy Corbyn’s eyes too. On foreign affairs, he reiterated his pledge to a decent ethical foreign policy, support for Palestine and a ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
It was a speech to bring about a socialist Britain and he made it seem possible. He offered hope for the first time in many, many years.
We finished by singing the Red Flag and Jerusalem.
Oddly enough, I thought it was Jerusalem which summed up the spirit of the conference.
Nina
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