Westminster Diary - 5th October 2006

Thursday, 5th October 2006

This week I am in Bournemouth for the Conservative Party Conference. Party conferences, whatever the party, are strange affairs. Several thousand people gather, often by the seaside, to discuss politics all day and most of
the night. It is an opportunity to catch up with old friends and to talk about new ideas, but I freely accept it is not an experience everyone would enjoy. However, I do believe party conferences serve an important democratic purpose. Modern politics can be conducted at a frenetic pace, with a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week news media demanding instant ideas, responses and reactions. Opportunities to consider and reflect on a long term policy direction or to debate our thinking in detail are rare and should be preserved, because political ideas should be thought and argued through. The policies which result and which may affect us all will be better for purpose if they are. Party conferences present such an opportunity.

Of course, if there is to be open and thoughtful debate, there will not always be agreement. In my party for example, there is a genuine debate about the merits and feasibility of tax cuts. I welcome that debate.
Politics should be talked about and policy debates lead to better policies in the end. Party conferences are the right place for those debates. A little sea air doesn’t do us any harm either.

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Updated on Thursday, 5th October 2006