Anders Hanson

After the week that the Liberal Democrats have just had it probably wasn’t the best time to have a conference. But actually the mood at conference was very good.

It seeed to be that regardless of what side of the argument people were on, they just seem determined to put a difficult week behind them and look forward to the local elections in May. One MP I spoke to last night, who was one of the rebels in the Lisbon Treaty referendum vote, also seemed pretty chipper and as they knew that the issue was an incredibly difficult one to handle they had no gripe about Nick himself. It was also definitely noticeable how many people I know that have elections in May were fairly confident in them doing well at the ballot box.

The most notable thing for me is the number of people who have come up to me all weekend and said, “Life must have changed a lot for you now that Nick Clegg is leader”. To which the answer is always “Not at all. Nick is still the MP for Sheffield Hallam and although he has extra responsibilities as leader, life in the constituency carries on as normal and we carry on campaigning as normal.” It’s interesting how even people who are long-standing activists seem to imagine that Nick’s campaigning in the constituency is somehow different now.

So to Nick’s big moment - his first conference speech as leader. It went very well and he really made it very clear the style that he wants to adopt as leader and the sorts of things that the Liberal Democrats should be championing. I was also pleased with two bits that I was surprised he mentioned - ruling out going in to government with both Labour and the Conservatives, and also using any savings in government to cut the taxes of the least well off. The speech was clear, interesting, gives a lot of promise of great things to come, and he even managed to do well one of the things that he has not always been good at - ad libbing. I knew he had done well, but it was the reaction from other people that made feel particularly chuffed as they were all along the lines of “the boy’s done good” and “that was a speech from a real leader”. I felt good coming out of the conference hall, but I was even more pleased with it after the feedback.

Ever since Nick Clegg has been leader I have also had butterflies every time I know that he has a big moment where he really has to perfom well. I got it at Prime Minister’s Questions. I got it today. But hopefully like has happened with PMQs his excellent performances will stop me getting so nervous.

Until this weekend I’d never been to Liverpool before. Actually, that isn’t strictly true. I did come here as a small child with my parents to go to the International Garden Festival. But that was a long time ago and we didn’t see anything of the city itself.

But having now been to Liverpool this weekend I am pretty impressed by the place. In some cities, the people who live there know they are on the up and are confident in their success, and develop a kind of arrogant swagger about their home town. Liverpool isn’t like that. They know it doesn’t have a great reputation but they are also determined to change people’s minds. What Liverpool has is the feel of being an important commercial city, a bit like Leeds and Manchester, but it is also a bit more down to earth and rough around the edges than them, and so in that sense is a bit like Sheffield. I suppose it’s those two things combined that makes me like the place.

I spent Friday afternoon and today doing some sightseeing around the city. Although I went to the fairly obvious choice of Tate Liverpool, I also went to Williamson’s Tunnels which I had heard about and was intrigued to see. They were both interesting in very different ways and I am glad I went. But I also spent a lot of time just looking around the place to get a feel for what it is like. The thing that struck me more than anything was the impresive architecture, but also how much redevelopment is going on.

I knew that Liverpool was being turned around, but you don’t appreciate the scale of it until you go there. At the Liberal Democrat Conference, Councillors Warren Bradley and Mike Storey have made a big thing about how the Liberal Democrats have turned the city around and if it wasn’t for them then the city would not be undergoing the huge renaissance that it is. Well I believe them. The city is certainly improving a lot, and from the press I have read (so not just Lib Dem spin) a lot of it is down to the Lib Dems taking control of the city. I know they have had a lot of problems too, particularly in relation to being the European Capital of Culture, but I can honestly say they seem to be doing an excellent job. With so much building still in progress it does detract a bit from the image at the moment, but I am sure when it is all done it will be great. And loads of people I have spoken to this weekend have said the same.

The Lib Dems in Liverpool have done an excellent job of selling their city to the conference delegates. They said to people at conference that they wanted people to go away after this weekend impressed, and then to come back. Well Liverpool has impressed me and I will definitely be back, and I hope Lib Dem Conference will be too.

NOTE AT 21:24
Seems like I was far less original than I thought when I came up with the title for this posting.  If lots of people said it then maybe they all heard it from me.  Not much of a brag though as it isn’t exactly roll on the floor laughing material.

Terrible news for fans of The Full Monty on the front of today’s Sheffield Star with the news that Shiregreen Working Mens’ Club which had a starring role in the film may be demolished for housing. Although the owners of the club deny any plans to sell the building, they have nonetheless applied for planning permission to build houses and flats on the site.

I suppose time moves on and working mens’ clubs are don’t doing as well as they used to (although I understand that the one in Shiregreen is pretty successful).  But it would be a huge shame if a building that is at the heart of the community there and that has been made famous the world over in one of the few major films set in Sheffield disappears.

The Lib Dems in Sheffield have recently put forward the idea that there should be local lists of buildings that are not of sufficient architectural importance to be listed by English Heritage, but are of local historical importance.  Perhaps this is one of them.

In last Thursdays’ Guardian there was a brilliant quote from Simon Hoggart which should be on the wall of every Liberal Democrat campaign office:

Both main parties fear and loathe the Lib Dems because, like boozy bottom-pinchers at the office party, they can sneak up and grab your seat when you least expect it.

Well it made me laugh anyway, and it’s so true!

That seems a pretty bold statement I know. But from reading some of the other Lib Dem blogs it seems as though loads of people from outside Wales were at the Welsh Liberal Democrat Conference in Llandudno this weekend. Some to do training, some to speak, but what they all seem to agree on was that it was fun.

I suppose it is just that the Liberal Democrats in Wales are pretty sociable bunch of people. I’ve described the Welsh Liberal Democrats before as “big enough to do things, but small enough to actually make sure they happen” and this seems to be reflected in their social life. The Welsh Liberal Democrats are big enough for there to always be interesting people to chat to and for you to never get bored, but they are also small enough for you to get to feel as though you know everyone. The Welsh Lib Dem conferences also always succeed in having people there from all age ranges, from all parts of the country, and they all genuinely get along together. I’m not saying that the Welsh Lib Dems never fall out, of course they do, but it is far more common that they get on.

Mark Valladares has a pretty good account on his blog of what an evening with the Welsh Liberal Democrats can be like and it reminded me of the conference dinner when I was at the last Welsh Liberal Democrat conference in Aberystwyth. There I had the fortune to sit on a table with people like Kirsty Williams, Mike & Veronica German, Rob Humphreys, Ali Goldsworthy, Rodney Berman and Nick Tregoning. As well as having a good laugh during the dinner, it was then topped off by the issues we caused to Elgan Morgan during the subsequent quiz (I won’t go in to it, but anyone who was there will know what I mean). I accept that it was probably a “you probably had to be there” moment, but I definitely remember it was being good fun.

I once somewhat uncharitably described the Welsh Liberal Democrat conference as “a lot like an English regional conference, but with TV cameras, simultaneous translation and it runs for a whole weekend.” I say “uncharitably” because policy debates in Wales actually have some importance and because English regional conferences have a reputation for being fairly dire, for example over an hour was taken up at the recent Yorkshire and the Humber Conference with a debate on the regional constitution. What is missing from other party conferences is the same level of fun, the friendship and the genuine camaradery that the party has in Wales.

I have said it before, but there is something about Wales that gets inside you. I only lived there for ten months, but I loved it and I can’t quite leave the place alone. It isn’t just the country itself, but the people I met there. I still have a lot of friends in Wales and that is why I can still get enjoyment out of attending a conference for a part of the party that I am no longer a member of. Politics isn’t all about having fun, but in Wales it is certainly a part of it.

WILL HOWELLS: Something for the weekend: hen wlad fy nhadau