In an interview with Petronella Wyatt in the Daily Mail this morning George Osborne says the Conservatives might scrap their annual conference altogether. The quote reads: "We might scrap the big autumn conference altogether. We need to face issues about the future of Britain in modern cities with modern facilities. I certainly have nothing against ensuite bathrooms. The old conference involving people drinking and discussing politics in bars rather than on the stage, is not what we are aiming for. Apart from anything else, they had this Soviet air about them." Well - pause for breath - what does that all mean?! Let me lay my cards on the table. When I was David Davis's Chief of Staff I drafted a plan to reform the conference, which involved shifting it to Thursday to Sunday to attract more working people and women, and there would be much more debate from the floor. The whole plan involved giving the conference back to the members. David signed up to it, we made the plan public and it was well received. If George is really serious about abolishing the conference without replacing it with what I called a 'political mini-break' I think there will be an outcry within the Party. Of course we need to change the conference and try to avoid pictures like the one above. But conference is one of the few times when activists can mingle with the Party leaders and tell them what they're thinking. It should be a time for debate - especially, when you're in opposition - as well as hearing set piece speeches from the Shadow Cabinet. In recent years it has become a stage managed convention, not a conference. This was why we suggested increasing the importance of the Spring conference and making it concentrate on policy and leaving the autumn conference to be more of a rally/convention. And we also said it should be organised in places other than Blackpool, Brighton and Bournemouth. We suggested Cardiff, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow and four cities which could cope with an event like this. So, could this year's event in Bournemouth really be the last Tory Conference? They certainly have the opportunity to cut it after this year because the contract with CCO Conferences comes to an end then. It would be a big mistake.
