There are at least 120 people in the holding area (theatre), with many others who are constantly in and out. They are at all levels of the Party - including the Ugandan High Commissioner, A-listers like Philippa Stroud and James Cleverly, and many others who are running stalls and events, and those who are cleared for Parliamentary passes.
Checking the ID of those picking up their passes seems to have gone out of the window, which undermines the security issues somewhat! It also seems completely arbritary in terms of who applied when.
Francis Maude apparently came back last night to say they would all be sorted out by this morning. This hasn't happened and it certainly seems to have overtaken Labour's conference problems now. I hear 400 passes were cleared last night, and another 400 are left to do.
This has sapped the enthusiasm of a lot of people at the start of a conference that was anticipated optimistically. Last night it was compared to an episode of Airline.
My name has just been called out...
Deputy Editor
Repeated post from the first thread:
I apologise to ConHome readers for not doing any education blogging. I haven't been able to get a pass! Even the fringe meetings are inside the secure zone. I met James Cleverley and many other candidates - even the Chairman of my own Association in Bexhill & Battle - who had been unable to get in either.
Posted by: Louise Bagshawe | October 02, 2006 at 10:49 AM
I'm over at the Trouville where I could pick up a WiFi hot spot. Hopefully when I pop over to the Pavillion later on my pass might be ready. It's been about 44 hours now, which is just shambolic. There was one guy I was chatting to earlier who has been waiting since Thursday.
If any of you with wireless in the Pavillion are reading this and feel like a break, pop over to the Trouville, it's outside the zone, some fringe events here and they do good food.
Posted by: Mike Rouse | October 02, 2006 at 11:57 AM
Seems the big mistake was to involve the local constabulary, why were they involved in anycase, surely each application form was signed by the local Chairman etc etc, therefore don't think we need the police vetting people.
Posted by: Paul Kennedy | October 02, 2006 at 02:12 PM
As a PS to my 2:12 post;
Terrorists 1 Conservative Party 0
and indeed the same scoreline for the Labour Party.
Terrorists count any change or disruption to our normal or daily routine due to the potential threat that they might pose, as a victory.
Posted by: Paul Kennedy | October 02, 2006 at 04:31 PM