It started with the election of Ed Milliband to lead our Party. I was not only a delegate to conference but had also been given a special pass to the event when the winner of the leadership election would be announced. I arrived early because I knew that I would have to go through a fairly lengthy process to get into the conference hall. I was right about that although I had not anticipated the time I was going to have to stand in a queue just to get in.
However the queue itself was interesting. In front of me was Maria Eagle MP for Garston and Halewood. Behind me was Julie and Tim Young both Councillors from Colchester. They are two out of only seven Labour Councillors. I had met Julie previously at the LGA Conference in Bournemouth. We had a long wait before we were allowed in and shephered to our seats. I lost sight of the Young's and I suppose Maria went to sit with fellow MP's. Somewhat to my suprise John Prescott and his son sat opposite me.
The Conference Hall was packed and the media were out in force. We started with a short video of Labours achievements and it was to set the scene for the entire event. We cheered and clapped our way through that video and we all wondered why we had not seen more of that during the general election campaign. Gordon Brown then spoke to us. He was relaxed and laughed and joked and again I wondered why we could not have had more of that during the election campaign itself.
Of course we were all anxious to be told who the new leader was. Forget the warm up acts please. The Chair of the NEC Anne Black announced the results by taking us through the electoral college ballot. It is of course a convoluted collegiate process with the MP's and MEP's, Affiliates and then the ordinary membership having a share of the vote in thirds and all weighted. It could only happen in the Labour Party. The atmosphere in the hall was electric and was even more so when it became clear that Ed Miliband had beaten is brother David by a fraction.
Wow - what a result for Ed! He had run one hell of a campaign to beat his brother who had been expected to win. The shock on Ed's face was obvious and he had only been told the result himself about twenty minutes before. The party rose to its feet at once and gave the new Leader their applause and support. The mood amongst delegates before the result was one of optimism and a determination to get behind whoever was choosen and that was the spirit that prevailed thoughought conference. I had given Ed my first preference vote in both the Constituency section and Trade Union section and I have no regrets about my choice.
The following day and Monday were really busy and I was torn between needing to be in the Conference Hall with the other delegates and to make sure I took part in the various votes and with attending Labour Party or fringe events. I've joined the Labour Womens Network and attended the formal launch of the Labour Womens Councillors Network. I plan to join the Coop Party too.
I was pleased to meet 17 year old Jake from Liverpool who approached me and said he was one of my Facebook friends. He is standing in May for Wavertree on Liverpool City Council and will be their youngest ever councillor if he gets elected. I sincerely hope he does. I introduced him to John Prescott and he got his photograph taken with him. I also met by prior arrangement Liam Young, aged 14, and another Facebooker and who I believe will one day be a MP himself and perhaps a future leader of the Party. He did not have a special pass to get into the hall to see the Leaders Speech and we spent some time talking about how he could manage it. I was not very optimistic because loads of other delegates without the special passes were being told that they would not get in.
No matter how exciting all of that was I was aware over the course of conference of being unusually tired and bothered by back ache. It got worse and on the day that Ed was to formally address conference I was really suffering. I sat from 9 am until about 1pm in the conference hall with an increasing back ache and tiredness. I was determined to see the conference out however and finally found myself in yet another queue as we all had to go through the process of being re-admitted to the conference hall in order to hear the Leaders speach. I had several frantic phone calls with Liam -about how he may get into the hall. I sat next to a councillor from Sunderland surrounded by other delegates from the Northern Region. This was an historic moment for the party and there was great expectation. Ed came onto the platform to rapturous applause and I was so pleased to see the younger delegates sharing the platform with him. I was absolutely overjoyed to discover that Liam had been allowed into the Hall along with lots of other younger delegates. Our new Leader was already stamping his authority and style on the party and showing us what he is made of. The new generation were there to see their history being created.
I went back to my sons house knowing in my heart that I was ill and would probably not get back for the final two days of conference. Early the next morning a Doctor told me I had shingles. I was too ill to even watch conference on the television. At least I got as far as seeing the new Leader elected and make his first conference speech and to witness the feeling of solidarity and renewed optimism within the party. We will need that solidarity as we march together, as we oppose the Coalition and as we rebuild the trust of the people of our country in the Labour Party.
