It has been an interesting few weeks, with each of the political parties in the UK having their conferences. The Liberal Democrats went in on a high and came out lower, Labour initially interesting, then back to "good old Tony". The Conservatives started rocky and ended rocky and are now looking like they might lose their leader, due to the current investigations.
Conference review from BBC and aftermath on the conference season. Main conference overviews for LibDems BBC and Guardian; Conservatives BBC and Guardian; Labour BBC and Guardian.
Charles Kennedy comes across as a bit tame really, I think that given the new found support for the LibDems, as I discussed earlier in the year, they could be making more of it. I think that they are sidelining Simon Hughes towards the London Mayor election. I think he might well replace Ken, but I'd rather see him running the party. If he fails to win the mayoral election, then he'll end up without a role to play.
The Tories are a sad sight, they may have some interesting policies, but the biggest cheer was still for bringing back hanging. I think that they are stuck for another term out of office, they are unable to settle on a leader for more than a couple of years at most and they need to decide now, as if IDS rides out the current furore, then he'll somehow sit tight until the election. Replacing your leader close to an election is unlikely, the questions around the employment of his wife do look set to push that decision.
Finally there is Labour, Tony pulled it out of the hat again, all questions of his grip on the leadership seem to have disappeared, though Mr Brown's speech will not have gone unnoticed.
Mr Blair's quote "I can only go one way, I've not got a reverse gear" is depressingly close to Thatcher's "This lady is not for turning", but then as was commented on last week the Tories do not know where to place themselves, as twenty years ago the speeches at the New Labour 2003 conference would have come from the Tory conference platform.
Like many people I'm thinking about whether I'll vote Labour again quite hard at the minute, the Iraq war weighs heavily in my mind and I'm unsure if I believe in the current Government. They have lied to us over the war and ignored public opinion on Foundation hospitals and ID cards. Tony has become a fervent conviction politician, he believes he is right, I'd prefer someone who listened to his public a bit more.
I might give a Brown led New Labour a chance, but might well be voting LibDem next time round.
politics: October 2003 Archives
This week, on Radio 4, Tony Benn is reading extracts from his diaries 1991-2001, entitled Free at Last. They are a joy to listen to and full of interesting political history and tidbit. Monday's programme is here, until the 20th and you can get the rest of the programmes from the Book of the Week website. The programme is on at 9.45-10.00am and repeated 12.30-12.45am, so you can catch Tuesday's programme this evening. You can also buy the book, Free at Last as a CD, which would work well mp3'd.
Either it is about getting older or I'm developing an interest in political history, I certainly enjoyed This Sceptred Isle, 1959-1979, covering the years before I was born and my first few years. I think that 1901-1919 and 1837-1900 would be an interesting part of history to learn more about. A time when big radical discoveries where being made and the main political parties in the UK defined themselves. Europe was also in turmoil and British power was at its height. See the notes on the BBC Sceptred Isle site for the late 1800s and the early 20th century. From this period Disraeli (biography from Victorianweb and Wikipedia) stands out as probably the most interesting political figure, certainly the most quotable. I particularily liked "It is much easier to be critical than to be correct" and "It destroys one's nerve to be amiable every day to the same human being".
