Labour North West Regional Conference - Southport

Last weekend I was in Southport with a fragile Wendy for the Labour North West Regional Conference.

I wont go on about it, suffice it to say that we had a good time, some good debates and workshops and it was all very useful - and great to see old friends.

Some things I will say that were of interest

Alastair Campbell spoke at the Friday night fundraising dinner which was enjoyable and one of my friends will be benefitting from my encounter with him, any day now. No names no pack drill, but she will know what I mean when the postman comes with a parcel for her.

I took the opportunity to talk to John Healey, Minister for Local Government, during a work-shop for councillors, about the lack of democratic input in Licensing matters, and he asked me to mail him the stuff over, which I have done and which he has now promised to look into. Readers will recall my indignation at learning that local councillors are not deemed "interested parties" and therefore are not allowed to comment on licensing applications for off-licences, pubs etc. I will let you know how that progresses.

I asked a question during Q&A of my old friend Ivan Lewis, now PUSS at Department of International Development about changing the rules to ensure that failed Asylum Seekers from the Congo are not sent back - he has also promised to get back to me about that.

John Prescott held a rally as part of his "Go Fourth" tour, to urge us on to campaign for a fourth term in Government. It was great and we all went off enthused.

But the highlight of the weekend was when I bumped into Marc Almond coming out of a hotel as I was going in. I recognised him immediately, he has not aged or changed at all. I am rather embarassed to say that I caught his sleeve, gushed about how marvellous I think he is and reminded that him that he had given me his autograph at the Kirk in 1982 (Kirklevington Country Club) and we briefly reminisced about what a really great club that was, sadly it has since been demolished and replaced with a small housing estate. I was absolutely "over the giggy" about seeing him.

Later that night I saw Stevie G in the hotel bar, but was unmoved in comparison.

A great weekend where we were joined by 100 Young Labour members having their own regional conference, but dipping into ours from time to time.

The future feels much brighter than it did six months ago.