Comrades, Labour conference is here. Today MPs and members descend on Brighton for four days of speeches and discussions on what Labour has to do in order to become a party of government. With the party now leading in the polls, the fringe talks on 21st century socialism, Venezuela and foreign policy at large will be watched with newfound interest from the business community.
Given the trouble the Tories found themselves in last week over Europe, one could be forgiven for thinking that the Labour party by comparison is now the picture of stability and calm. But as the party comes together for the first time since the snap election, a number of battles are being fought behind the scenes.
With the Leader’s Office focusing on members rather than the Parliamentary party, a host of Labour politicians – including Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and shadow housing minister John Healey – have found themselves no platformed at the event. After lobbying by one of the big unions, Sadiq Khan has been given a last-minute speaking slot. However, this is unlikely to please either Unite or the Leaders’s Office, with both stressing the conference should be about the members – or not about Blairites depending which way you look at it. Moderates may decide to publicly air their grievances – as tends to be tradition – at tonight’s Progress rally.
The sheer number of delegates coming down means that far fewer journalists will have access to the floor this year. This limits press interaction with members – and as one Labour presser puts it, ‘that’s not a bad thing, judging by the Twitter feeds of some of the delegates coming down’. It will also be telling to see how formerly anti-Corbyn figures like Tom Watson and Sadiq Khan are greeted by delegates when they arrive on stage. If they are given a hostile reception it will mark a shift in the membership.
There will be a few important rule change votes which give more power to Corbyn and the members – including a reduction from 15 per cent to 10 per cent in the proportion of MPs and MEPs required to nominate a leadership candidate. However, most of the votes are already accepted by the National Executive Committee and are expected to win support on the floor.
One area in which there could still be upset, however, is the ‘priorities ballot’ – which decides which motions are picked for votes. The topics that can be picked from include the EU and freedom of movement, housing and social care, the NHS, rail – and nuclear disarmament in light of recent events in North Korea.
Moderates are being encouraged to prioritise single market membership and freedom of movement in a bid to get Corbyn to soften his Brexit position. However, Momentum have not included the EU in their suggested picks. There’s an extra element of fun here as when voting opens at 10am – it’s whichever delegate gets there first from their Constituency Labour Party that gets to cast the vote on behalf of the whole group. Expect to see some people running to the ballot area.
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