BRING BACK CONTEMPORARY RESOLUTIONS!

How time flies. It's now two years since Gordon Brown persuaded the Big 4 unions to back the extraordinary step of abolishing the contemporary resolutions which were the last bastion of the old days when we actually used to debate and vote on Party policy.
I found it hard to fathom that people like Tony Woodley and Paul Kenny would support such a step but in the end they did - and were deservedly lambasted at that year's LRC rally in Bournemouth.
Two years on and moves are afoot to reverse that stupid step. See the Tribune story below. Anyone who knows a delegate going to Brighton should try and persuade them to vote for the restoration of this last scrap of democracy at Conference. But as we know the decision rests in the hands of the unions. It is possibly a mark of how disillusioned I have become in the last two years that I do not necessarily believe UNITE, GMB and UNISON will deliver on the day in Brighton. I hope I am wrong.
http://www.tribunemagazine.co.uk/2009/08/14/unions-and-clps-ready-to-reverse-brown%e2%80%99s-reforms/

DIRTY TRICKS DEPARTMENT

Today a story appeared in the Halifax Courier quoting me as "spokeswoman" for the Calder Valley CLP. The Courier has basically lifted a piece I wrote some months ago about our rule change motion for the LRC website and quoted me as "spokeswoman" for the CLP. I know many people from the constituency read this blog so I just want to set the record straight. The first I knew of this story was when a comrade from Halifax rang me to tell me it was in tbe papers. I will be ringing the Courier tomorrow (today) to lambast them because my personal views do NOT represent anyone other than myself and if they had had the grace to ring me I would have made it clear I was speaking in a personal capacity.
But let me be clear. Our constituency passed this motion - now on the agenda at Labour Party Conference - 17 months ago. Long before the Blairites started plotting against Gordon Brown. It's not an atack on anyone. It was designed as an attempt to ensure that in future - when there is a vacancy - there would not be another "coronation."The good news is that many constituencies are going to support it .The bad news is that some are confusing a principled stance with the dirty tricks and manoevring of the New Labour Right.

THE LEADER'S SPEECH......

If I were into conspiracy theories, I would find it highly dodgy that our delegate's Conference pack did not arrive unscathed. Sans fringe guide, sans invites, but thankfully with those all-important credentials intact .Sans, however, that all-important invite to the Leader's speech which in a spirit of altruism I have handed over.

Actually, it's interesting that tickets are now being doled out as a matter of course. In Blair's day, this was the Holy Grail of the Conference for many. And a seat was not guaranteed.

Two years ago, the queue in Manchester stretched from one end of G-Mex to the other. As it was Blair's last speech, I actually did try to get in but ended up watching the show on a screen outside the main hall. The politics were rubbish but it was a tour de force of showmanship as you would expect from a consummate actor.

One year one from his debut as Leader, Gordon Brown will not be facing a wave of anticipation as he mounts the rostrum. The audience will be anxious, and probably underwhelmed if reports if the recent NPF are true. Worst of all, it's utterly unlikely he will be announcing the change of direction which is needed to turn round Labour's fortunes. The change which really would deserve a standing ovation.......