A Tale of Two Parties: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”
In the last fortnight, two very different party conferences have occurred; Labour’s in Liverpool and the Conservative’s in Birmingham. For the most part, Conservative attendees – finding themselves in a majority government, with an exit from the EU in the offing and a Prime Minister channelling a bit of their heroine, Mrs Thatcher – were by far the happier. Their conference bubbled, not just in the champagne receptions, but from the standing room-only fringe events to the busy conference stands, with a feeling that this was not just their moment but perhaps a start of their decade. It felt like a happy coming together, a party united.
Or at least, it would have done if you weren’t David Cameron, George Osborne or one of their close political colleagues. Both the former prime minister and the former chancellor of the exchequer, who strode above the Conservative party for over a decade, were largely air-brushed out of this conference. Theresa May did offer up a sort of thanks in her speech, before sweeping away most of the rhetoric, tone and fiscal policy of the previous administration. It was left to Nicky Morgan, the former Education Secretary, to offer up a different/dissenting view from within the party on issues from grammar schools to a hard Brexit – she stood out as a lone voice though.
In Liverpool, it was hard to know whose side the dissenting voices were on, given that dissent was all around, albeit on whisper mode – it made for a sort of white noise that permeated this conference. Where the Conservative conference areas were packed, the ACC in Liverpool was almost deserted in comparison. Half empty fringes, and half the number of events in total than the Conservatives had, queue-less coffee shops and bars, echo-ey halls and unoccupied stewards abide in the memory. Perhaps the rival Momentum event, occurring in parallel with the official Labour party one, was where the action was and its presence was felt within the conference confines, like Caeser’s army camped across the other side of the Rubicon.
There was no uneasy truce within this conference – that would suggest that there were two equal sides – and yet no open warfare either. MPs from both camps – the Corbynistas to the Anti-Corbynistas mostly said the right things that should be said – “together, unity, olive branches, don’t leave the party, fight the Tories” were all in evidence.
Yet there was no doubt that such words wouldn’t even paper over a crack on an iPhone screen, such were the gaping chasms between both sides. Instead, the Anti-Corbynista’s had their heads down, after their unlikely, and ultimately unsuccessful, candidate, Owen Smith, had been pummelled in the leadership election on the eve of the conference.
Meanwhile, allies of the leader seemed to be having a great time, barely keeping the smiles off their faces, or the asides against the other factions off their tongues. They may not be heading for power in a general election but they’re going to enjoy being in a majority within their own party for the first time in decades for a while yet.
For those Conservatives who attended the Labour party conference, they’d have seen nothing to worry about. One such attendee said it was like intruding on private grief and having been invited to the wrong party when another, better, more fun one was going on elsewhere. It is difficult to argue. The new Prime Minister may yet have troubles ahead. Grammar schools, business backlash against her foreign worker plans, a still slim majority and of course Brexit, which may yet destroy her administration, are all rocks which she will have to navigate. But she heads back to parliament in a very powerful position for a new PM.
Written by Simon Hodges, Head of Public Policy (@SimonDHodges)
Brexit, EU referendum, Government, Political PR, PR, Public Affairs, Public Policy