LRC CONFERENCE AND OTHER ISSUES

I got home tonight after a six-hour journey - plenty of chance to mull things over on the bus.
Including this blog. I've had nearly 80,000 readers since it started in 2007 which is hardly hits of the Iain Dale variety but as Labour Left blogs go it's one of the most popularAnd I really appreciate all the positive comments and support I have had along the way.
Yesterday's LRC Conference was an extremely successful one. More people than last year. More input from the regions. Great speeches from all the platform. But still not enough representation from outside London on the National Committee or indeed in the audience. Those two issues need addressing in the coming year.
I was particularly pleased to learn LRC Scotland will be launched early in 2009 and I intend to be there in Glasgow and meet many of the people who were unable to make the journey south yesterday. I was also pleased that our resolution supporting plans for another Convention Of The Left was overwhelmingly supported .
The message yesterday from LRC Chair John McDonnell was clear - the LRC must work within and outside Labour if it is to fulfil its role as a focal point for campaigns and positive strategies to combat New Labour. And we cannot afford, as LRC Secretary Simeon Andrews so rightly said, to stay in the "comfort zone" of purely Labour Party activity.
Before heading back this afternoon I attended a meeting of the NUJ Left at which several LRC members were present. We are already planning for a conference in the spring.
But conferences and meetings are not enough.
It's fairly easy to attend these events if you're a seasoned activist but the really hard bit is getting out on the front line and building the contacts and respect only earned by hard campaigning graft. Comrades in Manchester, for example, are regularly picketing outside Northern Rock, newly nationalised but repossessing homes at a scandalous rate. I would like to see the LRC involved in more campaigns of this kind.
My commiserations go to the comrades from the north and other parts of the country who did not get elected. Perhaps we need to look at how the NC elections are structured to give them a fairer chance but that's an issue for another day.
Congratulations due to Alice Mahon, though, who got a huge amount of support - she will be a tremendous asset to the National Committee.
Above all, I hope we can all work together in a positive and constructive way to build the LRC. We have done well in West Yorkshire but I acknowledge there is a long long way to go.
I hope that the election of a Vice-Chair from outside London will send a message of solidarity to the comrades in places like Newcastle , Sheffield and Liverpool that their voices are just as important. And it should also be acknowledged that their task , so far from London, is that much harder. I do not think this is always appreciated by those who live south of Watford Gap.
Finally, a heartfelt thankyou to all those who helped me get elected.