The party conference season is over for another year. While it was uninspiring mid-term fare for the most part, I offer some observations. Thanks to Labour’s Manchester set-piece, we now know that party leader Ed Miliband wants to steal Disraeli’s “one nation” mantle. We learnt in Brighton that maybe, possibly, the Liberal Democrat’s Nick Clegg won’t back the Conservatives’ plans to find another £10bn of welfare savings, but he definitely wants to increase taxes on the rich.
In Birmingham, we were reminded of Boris Johnson’s oratorical skills and the affection he generates among his own party faithful. But it was also apparent that much of the Tory rank-and-file still see “Bozza” (for now at least) as an amusing rabble-rouser, rather than a future party leader.
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