“Glastonbury for the eccentric.”
As a self-proclaimed political nerd, I must admit that the Labour Party insider’s humorous portrayal of party congresses contains an element of reality.
When I attended my first “season” twenty years ago, I was astounded that so many childhood cliches were accurate.
At the Conservative Party convention, there were indeed young men dressed in pinstriped suits or tweeds and women of a certain age wearing pearls.
At Labour, there were harried-looking, well-dressed special advisers, as well as numerous posters and CND pins.
Indeed, Lib Dem activists wore sandals, and a “Glee club” was the week’s most anticipated event.
Party conferences are a unique presentation of our political tribes, and if everything goes well, they may foster a sense of purpose among the activists who knock on doors and distribute flyers.
This week we are in Aberdeen for the SNP’s first in-person conference since 2019.
Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP and first minister of Scotland, has experienced years of incredible political success at the ballot box. She will be on our show on Sunday.
Here, the first minister will be acclaimed, but conferences can also provide difficult moments when the beliefs of party volunteers conflict with the approaches of their leaders.
Ms. Sturgeon has had to contend with pressures from members to go further and more quickly in the independence drive.
In 2019, she rejected proposals for a more drastic option – a “Plan B” if the British government continued to reject a second referendum – which was booed by conference attendees.
Three years later, some of the most passionate supporters of independence have joined the Alba Party of former SNP leader Alex Salmond, which favors a more muscular approach.
Ms. Sturgeon has now proposed an alternative in which her party will regard the upcoming general election as a referendum.
There are doubts over the viability of this proposal, but she is not likely to suffer a great deal of internal pressure this week.
And it’s noteworthy that the SNP launched its conference by criticizing Sir Keir Starmer’s party, given that Labour is surging in the polls. However, Ms. Sturgeon intends to use the travails of the Conservatives to argue that anarchy in the United Kingdom poses a greater threat to Scotland than the numerous uncertainties associated with leaving the union.
As we have all just observed, party congresses may serve as both a magnifying glass and a megaphone for a party’s problems.
In a few days in Birmingham, the Conservatives presented one of the most demoralizing displays of political collapse ever.
It was a disaster to close the week with the cabinet in open conflict and the polls plummeting. As one insider put it, it begged the question of whether the government could even operate a bathtub, let alone the nation.
One former No. 10 employee told me these conferences can “provide the leadership the opportunity to bring out deeper policy views and provide the environment for a few people to have a smooch or be lobbied.”
This time, though, “many members of the public tuned in for the first time to hear this Conservative government unhelpfully speaking in red meat soundbites adored by some members but tin-eared and uninformative in a time of crisis for ordinary people.”
Not only was the opportunity to address the nation squandered, but it was also squandered and turned into a few tough days for Prime Minister Liz Truss.
After her conference, the question is not whether the event was successful or unsuccessful. Instead, the question is “what kind of political miracle must occur for her to recover?”
Labour, on the other hand, utilized the conference season to garner media attention it does not often receive.
This year, Starmer’s party was keen to seem organized, competent, and apart from its recent past.
Before the tenure of Keir Starmer, it is practically inconceivable that the national anthem would have been sung on the conference floor, and left-leaning activists were mostly ignored.
His crew realized they could produce a strong visual moment that would be devoured by the cameras and serve as an essential tribute to the late Queen.
Labour also benefited from the situation in the markets and Westminster. Or, as the former No. 10 staffer put it, “Labour could have grinned and waved their way through theirs like the Madagascar penguins and still come out on top because the government was making such a mess of things on its own.”
There are only a few weeks per year. There are barely a few thousand people in attendance. However, these gatherings are significant political signposts.
They are health checks on the parties that seek to govern us, revealing instances in which egregious defects are disclosed or progress is demonstrated.
What occurs on these occasions influences the discourse that eventually determines who leads the nation.
Yes, party conferences may be “Glastonbury for weirdos,” but they provide millions of people with insight into the parties that seek to rule the United States.
