On the move

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Wednesday, 22 September 2010, 10:42

I've had a busy few days. On Monday I spoke at a fringe meeting at Liberal Democrat conference organised by the Community Security Trust (CST). There were about 50 people present and there was a lively discussion and it was good to see some old friends there. Just before the meeting I bumped into Howard Sykes, from Oldham, someone whom I've worked with a lot over the years. I noted my surprise to see him in a suit, to which he replied, with a wry smile, "I'm in Government now." There was certainly a different feel to the conference than in previous years.

Most of my fellow speakers, including Lib Dem MPs Gordon Birtwistle (Burnley) and Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington), warned against complacency. I noted how I thought that as incumbents the Lib Dems would particularly come under pressure from the BNP. I also used the trip to Liverpool to discuss the formation of a Liberal Democrats Friends of Searchlight, so hopefully I'll have some news on that shortly.

My focus is now turning to next week's Labour Party conference and the EDL protest in Leicester in early October. We signed off a 16pp Labour Friends of Searchlight magazine and began setting up a whole range of meetings for my week in Manchester. I have to admit that I find September a hard month, travelling from one conference to the next. Perhaps it's a sign of age but spending night after night in hotels is less appealing these days.

Anyway, I'm off to Leicester today. We've got a really good group on the ground there who are coming up with some good initiatives against the planned EDL protest in the city on 9 October. I'll be writing more about this later today.