The PM really socked it to us, it was crystal, confident, optimistic and full of clear policies to take straight to the doorstep (free nursery places to be extended to 2 year olds, winter fuel payments this year going up by 100-200 for OAPs). He was honest on a personal level re. his personality (ALWAYS the best policy in these kinds of speeches!) and lightly humourous, slammed the Tories without going on about them too long and concentrated strongly on the economy. The conference hall responded, there was a fantastic atmosphere and no sliver of disunity or suggestion that Gordon was not the man for the job. Couldn’t have gone better in my opinion! Let’s hope the media get the picture.
I admit that conference fatigue set in shortly after that and after some recovery I finally completed a trawl of the exhibition hall – joining the odd society here and there and picking up information on others and then decided to see a bit more of Manchester. So as my conference draws to a close, I realise that I have gained confidence politically, become more sure of my Labour values and developed a clearer picture of where I want to go with it. I will come away enthused and with a will to campaign that I certainly didn’t have before coming to conference – to win a 4th term!
Ceri Hollywell is a first time delegate from Islington North CLP
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