The Liberal Democrat party conference - a first-timer's view
From a correspondent... The 2015 Lib Dem autumn Conference took place in Bournemouth in September. My experience of such events was limited to soundbites on TV and articles in the national press, so it seemed like an excuse to spend five days on Bournemouth seafront, seeing what the political folk got up to - or to spend the time sightseeing if it turned out to be too dull.
In fact, the whole event was fascinating. More than two thousand people attended, some for just the weekend, but most for the full event. Each day comprised a full programme of speeches, motions and debates in the main auditorium from 9AM to 6PM. Parallel to this core, there were side talks and panel discussions from breakfast time to around 10PM. Finally, social gatherings continued past midnight, with Lord Paddy Ashdown standing on a chair in the pub on Monday night, and the famous Glee Club singalong going on well past midnight on Tuesday.
The core strength of the Lib Dems is that everyone really can involved at Conference. Members could speak from the floor, even in major sessions such as the Trident-Replacement debate, and everyone who was a first-time speaker was applauded by the audience. There was no expectation to follow a "party line", and there was genuine debate. Votes were cast for the various motions, and it was clear that the voting delegates (most of us) really were voting on policy. We were certainly not being told what to do by the ruling elite!
The days are packed with parallel events from before breakfast to after bedtime, and it's worth sitting down the night before with the programme and planning which sessions to catch the next day.
I left Bournemouth genuinely surprised at how welcoming the whole event had been for a newcomer. If you're a member of the Liberal Democrats, you can attend Conference. You have a voice. You can speak.