Conference diary - day one

Conservative conference opened in Manchester at lunchtime on a wet and windy day. Security arrangements were very efficient, with barcodes and scanners used to deliver airport level security yet allow accredited attendees in and out very efficiently.

Inside Manchester Central there was the usual bustle of people from all over the country and lots of exhibitors with a wide range of messages - one of the most striking exhibits this year was a full-size dalek on the BBC stall.

The first session was a private one, the National Conservative Convention which is basically an assembly for the volunteers of the Conservative party consisting of all the constituency, Area and Regional chairmen. The PM and Party chairman attended and both were on good form. Party chairman Greg Hands largely reprised his speech for all attendees and the television cameras in the main hall a little later.

The first couple of hours in the main hall were largely political knockabout, but the tone of the discussion became much more serious when the Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps, rose to speak. He started with a few words about the Blitz when British cities were bombed during World War II - and then reminded us that such experiences, though seventy years in the past here in Britain, are a daily reality of life today in Ukraine.

He spoke about the further help Britain is giving Ukraine, steps being taken to support our NATO allies, and the latest contracts awarded as part the AUKUS agreement with the USA and Australia.


   


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria

Please note that the post below was published more than ten year ago on 21st November 2009 Nick Herbert MP, shadow cabinet member for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, was in Cumbria this morning to see the areas affected by the flooding. He writes on Conservative Home about his visit. Here is an extract. I’ve been in Cumbria today to see the areas affected by the floods. I arrived early in Keswick where I met officials from the Environment Agency. Although the river levels had fallen considerably and homes were no longer flooded, the damage to homes had been done. And the water which had got into houses wasn’t just from the river – it was foul water which had risen from the drains. I talked to fire crews who were pumping flood water back into the river, and discovered that they were from Tyne & Wear and Lancashire. They had been called in at an hours’ notice and had been working on the scene ever since, staying at a local hotel. You cannot fail to be impressed by the
Read more

Who are the real voices of Leave?

It isn't impossible to find people making an intelligent, optimistic, free-market case for a Britain which would be open to trade with the whole world rather than a haven for Xenophobic little Englanders. The trouble is that you do have to go out and look for them. Writing as a professional economist - e.g. someone with two degrees in the discipline who has used the skills I acquired with those degrees for the majority of my professional life - I was not expecting the debate about the economic advantages of Leave versus Remain to be the walkover for the latter which it has been to date. The economic case about the risks of Brexit put by George Osborne and the Treasury is not without substance or supporting arguments, and it is silly and childish to dismiss their case as pure scaremongering but that does NOT mean there are no counterarguments and personally I think they have overstated a legitimate case. But it is most depressing that there has been almost no publicity given
Read more

Arthur Lamb RIP

Image
I am devastated by the news that my friend and colleague, County Councillor Arthur Lamb died unexpectedly but peacefully in his sleep yesterday morning. He was thirty-one years old. (Picture from Whitehaven News from CCC election count 2017) Arthur William Creighton Lamb was Chairman of Copeland Conservatives at the time of the Copeland by-election, in which the Conservatives achieved the first governing party by-election gain on a directly comparable basis since Worcester in 1878. He was still chairman when the Conservatives held the seat in the 2017 general election. That year he was also elected County Councillor for the Cleator Moor East and Frizington division of Cumbria County Council and at the time of his death was Chief Whip of the Conservative group on the county council. He was also Deputy Chairman of Cumbria Conservatives. Arthur was a perfect example of what is meant by the expression "An old head on young shoulders." He was exceptionally shrewd and had a real kn
Read more