As we look ahead to party conference season, I score a rare century of annual conferences at the main three Westminster parties, and always the party of Government and Official Opposition.
Discounting the extra runs at Labour conference chalking up 38 years from my first job working for a local MP and batting away the online conferences that ran in the 2020 pandemic, I will make my 100th innings when I arrive in Bournemouth at Liberal Democrat autumn conference.
It all began with LibDems in Bournemouth back in September 1991, then representing the National Union of Teachers as a non-affiliated trade union. That first day I also met my now wife working who was working for a charity at the conference. Thirty-four years on as we embark on our 35th party conference season, we celebrate 100 conferences at our ‘Youth and Skills Day’ organised with the party on 22 September.
The batting order takes us next to Labour in Liverpool with our Youth Zone and Skills Hub fringe programmes and a record 70 events held in just 50 hours, supporting some 50 charities and including 50 young people over 3 days.
The final innings plays out in Manchester at Conservative Party conference, with a strong tail-end increasing the run-rate to complete 100 fringe events in 2025 alone.
Since 1991 we’ve seen 26 party leaders take to the crease, including 10 Conservative leaders, the election of 8 Labour leaders (letting slip the only 2 women interim leaders) and 8 LibDem leaders overall. The fast-pace of politics has moved on from Paddy Ashdown, Neil Kinnock and John Major as leaders. The era marked by the financial crises of 1992, 2008 and 2023 and punctured by 9/11, the Pandemic and global conflict brought closer to home with the saturation of social media.
To rest back some control of the messages, beyond the spin, party conferences have become increasingly staged and less obviously a policy making forum. The fringe has become more commercial, a necessary revenue stream for the parties. Yet with a vibrant fringe each of the political gatherings party conferences are a great market place of ideas and debate, side-bar discussions and campaigns to inform and shape future policies.
For those taking part in the conferences for the first time, protect your energy levels. Pad up and take a look at the field of events, picking out those you want to strike out and see. Soak up the atmosphere and take breaks, so that you’re not overwhelmed by the crowd and can bat through to the end. For the veteran conference players, pace yourself. We may be wise to conference, but ever mindful of the spin and occasional political bounce or slip-catch when organising events.
Of a career record and stories of conferences over the years, our proudest achievement is from our Youth Zone events first run with charity partners at the party conferences in 2010. That’s 15 years supporting over 1,000 young people to take an active part from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. Some now in political office, and most still actively engaged in their communities.
Citadel runs the Youth Zone and Skills Hub at party conferences. The programme of events for conference delegates and visitors (conference passes required) can be found here:
Citadel 