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Lets hold it somewhere really radical. Somewhere where Conservative members would tend not to go, Doncaster anyone?

What makes him think that the police will be any better elsewhere? When it's now an agonising decision whether to publish photos of escaped murderers?

It's the training they get, and of course that too is not free of EU influence:

European Policing College http://www.cepol.net/KIM/

"CEPOL was established by the Council Decision of 22 December 2000. According to Article 1 of the Council Decision CEPOL shall be set up as a network by bringing together the national training institutes for senior police officers in the Member States."

"So much of British life is blighted by incompetence. It's not just the public sector. Huge parts of the private sector offer unacceptable levels of customer service."

So very true, it is a consequence of being bound up in so many petty rules and regulations, mind you, in fairness, from time to time some customers don't exactly help the situation. ;)

I like Bournemouth - and so do many other people! This is an over-reaction in my view.

This is Maude trying to shift his responsibility onto others, as usual. I spoke to senior police officers in Bournemouth and they were very clear about where the delays entered into the process. This *will* come out.

And I'm surprised, to say the least, to see anyone who supports security and counter-terrorism daring to 'have a go' at the police: they do a damn sight more useful work than fully 99% of us.

Sorry to read this ~ when active in the party in the UK before moving overseas, I always liked going to Bournemouth rather than Blackpool

It would have been better if Cameron's pass had been approved after the Conference - we would all have been better off... Those Bournemouth Bobbies know a thing or two.

The passes debacle was awful, but the resulting negative publicity they got would have ensured a proper job next time. Personally I like Bournemouth, which is by far the best Conference venue: I'd rather keep Bournemouth, and ditch Maude.

Why not one of the West Yorks towns/cities? West Yorks police are normally up to scratch. Choice of Leeds. Bradford. halifax. Huddersfield for starters. The little places would be fun, but accomodation a no no. eg 'eckmondwike!!!!

Oh how wonderful, we scrap Bournemouth, the better venue, yet we're still keeping Blackpool! Is the Party finally going to reconsider Brighton again?

Good on Francis for making a stand. If he was wrong to blame the police the facts will come out and he will be finished. He will know that so my guess is he is right. Now if he would just please address the Blackpool matter.....

The Magnificent Seven political heroes...

Please vote at:

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/6161847.stm?dynamic_vote=ON#vote_6161847

One could always contemplate a completely different kind of conference...

...Butlins at Skegness, anyone? :-))

It would be a boost to Simon Kirby's campaign in Brighton Kemptown to have it there, hope this is considered by cchq.

I certainly blame the police, not Maude. Not approving a pass for the Leader of the Opposition is farcical. Frankly anybody who has a House of Commons pass has been investigated by the security services, who I suspect are slightly better at that job than a local police force. There is no need to have MPs checked out by Dorset Police.

It was a fiasco. I was rejected because my co-signatory had got married and her pass had been thrown out because the name on her driving licence didn't mathch the name on her passport. Every pass she counter-signed was similarly chucked out and had to be personally verified.

Mind you, it took so long that I missed Maude's speech so it wasn't an absolute disaster.

We should change to holding conferences in the cities we need to win back - Birmingham or Manchester (or even Sheffield) anybody?

We'll probably have the same trouble this year in Blackpool if Labour's conference was anything to go by. I say we go to Yorkshire or the East Midlands.

Please can we go to Birmingham. It is right in the centre of the Country. It has the ICC which is the best conferecne centre in the UK and there are the necessary 1,000s of hotel rooms within a short walk - so neither the miles away that North Shore or Poole are - and there ir a ready made security cordon around the ICC and the main hotel which would almost certainly be the Hyatt Regency.

To go to Brimingham would put the party in the middle of the second business capital of the UK and touches many more marginal seats than Brighton. And it is easier to get to by train!

>>Lets hold it somewhere really radical. Somewhere where Conservative members would tend not to go, Doncaster anyone?<<

Well there are the races there but otherwise, yes, if you want to hold the conference in a phone box its probably the place to go.

Seriously, the problem of holding a conference of this size anywhere other than Bournemouth, Brighton or Blackpool is going to be the lack of cheap and readily-available accomodation.

For several reasons I think Bournemouth is the best of the three. This looks like a short-sighted decision by somebody who doesn't really know what he's about.

Tory T's suggestion of the conference returning to Brighton is an excellent one. With three local associations working very hard to kick out the Labour party from the City Council in May and return three Conservative MPs to Parliament, it would be a huge boost if Brighton was being given serious consideration by CCHQ. Brighton is full of friendly people, fantastic restaurants and shops and has a marvelous selection of accomodation. It is by the seaside, has a hard-working police force, and has great road and rail links.

Everyone's talking about the Conservatives again in Brighton & Hove - it would certainly boost my campaign for Brighton Kemptown if we were to return.

Liverpool's new conference venue will be ready in 2008. Probably not big enough for annual conference. However for a spring conference it would make a great statement of Conservative confidence to hold such an event in the heart of Labour territory. Plus all you Southerners can visit the British city with arguably the finest architecture. The locals are fun too!

The rozzers clearly needed convincing David Cameron was a Conservative. And who can blame them for that? Sounds like intelligence-led policing to me.

Brighton was never as popular with "delegates" as Bournemouth. Things may be better now, but as I recall it hotel accomodation is more expensive and often inferior to Bournemouth. The BIC is better than the Brighton centre too.

If you hold the conference in some off-beat location and the numbers drop sharply, that is the "message" that will go out, not the fact that the Tories think they are about to take over Liverpool or some similar nonsense.

Liverpool is certainly the city that wrecked some of the finest architecture in Britain from the vanished Cotton Exchange to what's left of St George's Hall. Are you seriously suggesting that Liverpool can provide adaquate and cheap accomodation to 4000/5000 representatives?

Yeah, that's right, let's blame Europe for the conference fiasco! Isn't it amazing how Europe pops up in every thread? Did Roger Helmer not warn us?

Brighton would be good - but how about Perth or Cardiff? Three cheers for Francis.

>>how about Perth<<

You are joking aren't you?

You'd probably get a better turnout in Perth, Australia.


How about Slough?

Some of the places that have been mentioned wouldnt work as their isnt enough hotel accomodation. Then there is the consideration of a secure area that can be easily made sesure (Seaside towns have worked as the conference centre and main hotel can easily be made into one big secure area).

As for Brighton having lived there it certainly is a great place - and Brian Oxley is a superb leader of the Conservative Group of B&H. Aren't there plans for the Brighton centre to be demolished and rebuilt at some point?

It would be a shame to write Bournemouth off over this, I was one of tose waiting all day Sunday and Monday for my conference pass and my impression sat in the "holding" room was one of utter chaos on all sides.
the very least we should be entitled to from CCO or Maude himself is an appology but 3 months later and i am still waiting.
The CCO staff on the day were very helpful as were the Police on the ground - but there was a noticable lack of anyone like Maude coming down to tell us what was going on.
Common decency would have been, in my opinion, to come into the theatre we were in, 500+ people by mid Sunday, and just explained what was going on but no. And even refreshments prommissed failed to materialise
Everyone is entitled to make mistakes but it is how you deal with it that marks out a competent organisation.....

Yes, Justin, I agree it should be possible to blame a British police force for some local fiasco without any aspect of our foreign policy coming into it. Unfortunately once it was decided that our foreign policy would involve a relentless process of "ever closer union" with our neighbours it became inevitable that at some point it would start to come into policing, and into everything else. If you don't like that, you know what the answer is - it's summed up in three words: "Better Off Out".

There were similar pass delay problems at Labour's conference in Manchester, so I doubt Dorset police were uniquely incompetent.

Sugar! You ARE serious aren't you, Denis? People like you make me become more pro-European by the day...

I think that the NEC at Birmingham would be ideal, trouble is, the southerners would get a nose bleed having to go north of the M25

Bournemouth (like Blackpool and Brighton) suffers from the declining quality of a lot of its hotel accommodation. Its main attraction is the BIC and the beach.

I visited Brighton in September and was not impressed. The town centre needs some love and attention. The Brighton Centre is dated and rather cramped.

The Perth conference centre holds a maximum of 1600 - too small (like Harrogate.

The high hotel prices in Manchester made the Labour conference too expensive for many activists. A friend who attended told me it was a corporate and lobbyist jamboree. The same problem will apply to going to any major city such as Liverpool or Birmingham during the working week.

There are no obvious alternatives to Bournemouth.


Is there a suitable venue in the South of France? We could all get a nice tan.

Ok I may be biased but what is wrong with holding it in Birmingham? We have the venues, hotels, b&bs, rail connections and its not far from most places in the country.

No, Dick, not the NEC, that is in the countryside near Coventry. The ICC is right in the centre of Birmingham, about 5 minutes walk from New St station and there are about 50 hotels within a mile.

If they keep the Ferris Wheel they had outside a few years ago, non "A" list candidates can all club together to pay for Mr Maude to have a go, then auction off the right to turn the power off when he gets to the top!

Of course I'm serious, Justin. Why do you suppose that the EU has bothered to set up a network for "bringing together the national training institutes for senior police officers in the Member States", if not to try to influence the way that those senior police officers are trained, and so the way they and their subordinates will carry out their duties? Maybe it's time for you to start to get a little more serious about this. Do you know that on December 20th, once again while our MPs were on holiday, it was agreed to give Europol more powers?

http://euobserver.com/22/23130

"Brussels to boost powers of EU police office"

Are you even aware of the existence of the European Gendarmerie Force,

http://www.eurogendfor.org/

"composed by police forces with military status from 5 european countries", whose logo incorporates a flaming grenade to represent "the common military roots of the police forces"?

Have you thought what could be imposed on this country if the EU governments agreed to move from unanimity to QMV on matters of Justice and Home Affairs?

How about Gibraltar? It's T-shirt wearing weather here today so a tan is more likely than in the South of France, Justin. Nice idea though - I like it.

I'm sure our local Association would put on a good bash, and also it would make for an interesting twist on our much debated position on the EU. And upset the Spanish too. Result!

Jonathan Sheppard - yes, you are right about plans to upgrade the conference facilities in Brighton see : http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1124741. I suspect it may be some way off though!

Gibraltar it is!

Why not Llandudno? It's in a three-way marginal, it'd be fairly cheap and it would show that we're not just an English party.

What about the Circus Tavern Purfleet ?

As much as many long to return to Brighton, the fact is that it just doesn't have the hotel space to the extent that at Labour's conference many stay at Gatwick.

I would suggest Llandudno, a venue of old but with one of the best conference halls in the country (so I hear), Newcastle, Cardiff, Torquay and Skegness (Butlins is not as stupid a suggestion as a previous post made out!). A Newcastle conference in particular would do us the world of good.

I would love to see the conference in Cleethorpes - there is an Auditorium, good transport links and the best food in the country but sadly virtually no hotel space.

Let's be serious about changing our venue, do something genuinely modern, as opposed to the same old discriminations masquerading as modernising, and take our conference to the big cities. There are suitable venues, with enough hotel rooms available close by, in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool (soon), Sheffield, Cardiff, Glasgow and Edinburgh that I myself know of. Probably there are others too that I haven't visited and so haven't named. We can and should rotate conference around the suitable big cities thereby making an impact upon the places we need to win back come election time. Oh and also, whatever happens, please please please can we stop going to the ever more ghastly Blackpool, a place that simply rips us all off and is visibly decaying before our eyes.

Having been to Conservative, YC, SCUA, Central Councils, FCS Conferences since the late 60s,the best venues were Bournemouth, Harrogate and Perth- the worst Blackpool, Manchester and Dundee.
However with the number of delegates now increasing and the various back ups, security and logistics, it seems to me that Blackpool, Brighton, Bournemouth, Harrogate, the NEC at Coventry and the SECC at Glasgow are the only places that have the space, the hotel accomodation and the transport links

We should definitely be taking the conference around the cities that we need to win back. manchester is useless and is evident from the amount of traffic chaos that labour caused. i would prefer liverpool and it does have more grade listed buildings than any other place outside of london. And it will have the new conference venue for 2008. Why do you think it was named as capital of culture for 2008. ANY CHANCE THE PARTY BOARD COULD CHOOSE LIVERPOOL FOR 2008?

There must be a more constructive way to address this, without hurting the town, its businesses and residents?

That is why we are in politics isn't it?

Liverpool definitely has the transport links, it will not get snarled up by traffic like manchester for labour. As a result of capital of culture the city's road system has been revamped-plus it has 1000's of hotel rooms with even more being built as a result of the capital of culture, and the new kings dock conference centre.

we do need to win the cities back so i agree with above comments that we need to put the emphasis back in enemy terriTORY.

Give the north a chance!

Reading the topic for the first time,I note that Mark McCartney is rubbishing the thought of the Party holding it's conference in Perth and quoting that there might be a better turnout in Perth Australia.That really shows how much he knows about the rest of the UK. Perth is and will always be a suberb conference centre and only bettered by Dundee!

"Liverpool's new conference venue will be ready in 2008. Probably not big enough for annual conference. However for a spring conference it would make a great statement of Conservative confidence to hold such an event in the heart of Labour territory. Plus all you Southerners can visit the British city with arguably the finest architecture. The locals are fun too!"

Was going to say exactly the same thing, another vote for Liverpool from me!

To generalise hugely, my fellow Liverpudlians need to see that Conservatives are normal people who care about others. I still cringe a bit when I say I'm a Conservative there - not because I lack moral conviction about being one, but because of what assumptions they sometimes make about me.

The Party's social responsibility and community messages could well tap into the communal feel of Liverpool and mark a milestone into its recovery there - helped by the economic renaissance of the city and its growing class of young professionals.

An ambitious social action project that is hard for attendees to avoid would be an excellent initiative.

By the by, has anyone heard anything about Heseltine's urban taskforce?

I'd vote for Gibraltar too - at least we'd be guaranteed good weather!!!!

>>That really shows how much he knows about the rest of the UK. Perth is and will always be a suberb conference centre and only bettered by Dundee!<<

It's not a question of how good Perth may be as a conference centre. It's a question of how far distant it is from most of the likely attendees.

I have twice taken the train to Perth from London and it was a long haul with a particularly tedious cross-country meander between Edinburgh and Perth. When the party holds the conference in Blackpool there is a drop in takeup. A conference in Perth might finish off the event for good.

Whether it would be appropriate for the English Party to thus "trespass" on Scots territory is, of course, another matter to be considered.

Good plan from Francis. I took time off work only to be told my pass wasn't going to come through. Let's go to a big Northern city next time..

How about Brussels? Better class of accommodation and food, and delegates can check out the real seats of power: EU Parliament, Committee of the Regions building, etc.

'A particularly tedious cross-country meander between Edinburgh and Perth' - more like an especially beautiful stretch of countryside. Personally I suspect Perth falls far short of our accomodation needs, but maybe St Andrew's, especially outside term-time for the University, would be a better bet?

I live in London, but I've no sympathy for the people here who whine about going north of Watford. Let them stay at home, if Blackpool, or anywhere else up north, is too much trouble for them.

This is a no-brainer, it has to be Birmingham. Its in the centre of the country, good good access, good venue, just about enough hotels and we need to win it back.

On the issue of security, this was mad and there must be some way of cross checking applicants. Many of us already have passes of various kinds which are far higher than the checks Dorest police did.

Matt

...oh and Llandudno another good option,

Matt

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/Dorset1.pdf This is the official answer to our Party Chairman on BBC website so I take it as true!? My wife and I too were delayed when our daughter had to get a pass for her wheelchair but police and party were very helpful. Bournmouth needs Conservative support not criticism, we need to show how we learn from mistakes not possibly make more.

This year's conference pass problems were awful - typical of a rip-off cowboy operation. Those who paid for a pass and did not it should complainhere.

Those who paid their membership subs to the Conservative Party and would like some Conservative policies may wish to complain too.

Sorry for the bad link - click here to complain about being ripped off.

As far as 'incompetence' and 'bad customer service' go in this country, I believe that unless a 'blue-collar' job has a fancy name it is not considered worthwhile to do it conscientiously, in fact I would go further and say that it is considered 'uncool' these days to be conscientious, and to get back to my favourite mantra, I hold the media, notably TV very much responsible!

I have had regular experience of bad customer service through carelessness and 'don't care' attitudes over the last six months or so - well not me personally I am glad to say, but my builder, who has nearly gone spare over and over again, through the wrong thing being delivered, or broken, all necessitating extra work and more importantly expense. Perhaps the workers who are careless should pay from their salary!

"do something genuinely modern, as opposed to the same old discriminations masquerading as modernising, and take our conference to the big cities. There are suitable venues, with enough hotel rooms available close by, in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool (soon), Sheffield, Cardiff, Glasgow and Edinburgh that I myself know of."
Matt, that is an excellent idea.

It's cheap to get to Amsterdam. It's closer than Bournemouth for some of us too!

I had the chance to speak to an officer at the time about what was going on. He said that it was the Party that was to blame for trying to push everything through so late and that Dorset police had been waiting for about 5 months for the paperwork from the Party so they could check it. I wouldn't be surprised if Dorset police hit back on this one. Personally, I don't care who was to blame but it must be made certain not to happen again.

http://www.kingswaterfrontliverpool.co.uk/arena.php

Have a look at the link-there can be no doubt that liverpool wont have a venue suitable for the party. And across the road is the biggest construction site in Europe that will also be ready for the 2008 capital of culture.

It is an £800 million project by the Duke of Westminster to give Liverpool a new shopping centre that rivals Manchesters Trafford Centre in size-it has also brought Hilton Hotels to the city and hundreds of new hotel rooms to the thousands the city already had. And the road system has been revamped.
http://www.liverpoolpsda.co.uk/


Liverpool should be considered!!!

While I haven't been to Liverpool for some years I'm familiar with hotel arrangements in other cities of similar character.

I'm not convinced that any of these have enough hotel accomodation of the type that would suit Conservative conference representatives. The type of conferences that are frequently hosted in Birmingham etc draw in business delegates whose 3 or 4 star hotel bills are paid by their companies.

It's inconceivable that any of these cities possess large quantities of cheap guest houses as are to be found in Blackpool and even Bournemouth.

Other problems, notably that of the "security zone" have already been raised. It seems to be a case of "if
it ain't broke don't fix it"

I prefer Bournemouth to Brighton, but if the party really doesn't want to go back to Bournemouth again then Brighton is the obvious choice.

The problem with the Party holding it's Annual Conference in the South Coast is that as a UK Party,we should attempt to make ourselves more credible by moving to the central areas or to even futher north.That would remove for all time the accusation that we are only interested in votes from the south of England.The decline in the fortunes of the Party in the North and in Scotland may in some way be attributed to this affinity with the South coast venues which are chosen for the Conference.It's as if we don't care for those of us far away from the South Coast.

Pardon, Bruce?

Every other year the party holds its conference north of Liverpool and Manchester, and these days Blackpool is probably more in need of TLC than Liverpool.

Are you suggesting that all conferences should be held north of Watford?

Yes, I would think that a more central venue would be the most suitable for a UK Party.

In putting the blame on the police, Maude is intentionally misleading the Party. Central Office, unlike the Labour & Lib Dem HQs, failed to get most applications to the police until it was far too late. I have today spoken to a very senior police officer in Dorset who is furious about this, and Maude is going to be caught out. This man is not fit to be party chairman.

>>Yes, I would think that a more central venue would be the most suitable for a UK Party.<<

But you were previously backing Perth as a possible venue!

Anyway if, as I assume, you live in Scotland, you have your own party conference.

I may be wrong, but I don't see the 5000-strong conference fitting into Birmingham or wherever for a whole string of reasons, some of which I've mentioned previously.

"So much of British life is blighted by incompetence".

You are absolutely right, Editor.

As has been remarked from time to time, this Nulab government could not - quite obviously - organise the proverbial party in a brewery.

BUT are we any better? If we are, surely that is something we should be shouting out loud and clear for the infuriated electorate to hear and understand as being an important difference between the two parties.
Surely we can make political capital out of Reid's statement that the Home Office "Is not fit for purpose" and Patricia Hewitt's comment that 2006 was "the best year yet for the NHS".

" Please can we go to Birmingham. It is right in the centre of the Country. It has the ICC which is the best conferecne centre in the UK and there are the necessary 1,000s of hotel rooms within a short walk - so neither the miles away that North Shore or Poole are - and there ir a ready made security cordon around the ICC and the main hotel which would almost certainly be the Hyatt Regency.

To go to Brimingham would put the party in the middle of the second business capital of the UK and touches many more marginal seats than Brighton. And it is easier to get to by train!

Posted by: C List and Proud |"

Wouldn't be a bad location for an English parliament either !

Why do some posters seem to think that the only "modern" choice is a big city. Our MPs spend most of the year in Britain's biggest city, and Conference is the one week a year when they have to struggle with the creaking infrastructure of a seaside town. I'd like to see them all spend a little more time in small town Britain to give some perspective to their transport policies!

Thanks Scotty, I'm genuinely glad that we can agree on something.

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