Labour conference proves an odd affair – South Wales Argus

SPRING conference season came to an end this weekend, with the Welsh Labour Party holding their event in sunny Llandudno.

With the party in control in the Senedd it was a fairly self-congratulatory affair, with representatives lining up to shout to the rooftops about how Wales under Labour rule has become a new utopia.

Even Jeremy Corbyn himself appeared to applaud Carwyn Jones and his Assembly colleagues, albeit turning up late after his train was delayed. No reports on whether he had to sit on the floor.

But it was at least something of a surprise to see only one of the partys 25 Welsh MPs, newly-appointed shadow secretary for Wales Christina Rees, get up on stage at the Welsh conference, with all the other speeches given either by AMs, serving councillors or council candidates.

Perhaps this was inevitable as Labour is in opposition in Westminster and therefore can claim very little in terms of actual influence, but to give the partys Parliamentary fraternity such a limited representation seemed a little skewed, to say the least.

And its not that they werent there I spotted Newports own Paul Flynn on Saturday afternoon and I know Torfaens Nick Thomas-Symonds was there, to name just two.

This wasnt the only odd element of the weekend while Mr Corbyns speech went down well with attendees, his arrival at Venue Cymru on Llandudno seafront was rather muted, with the Labour leader casually wandering in through the front door with absolutely no fanfare or applause.

Imagine if that had been Theresa May turning up at a Conservative conference the roof would have practically blown off.

A speech by Christina Rees, who was appointed shadow Welsh secretary just last month, also felt more like an attempt to prove she is up to the job, with the Neath MP reeling off her CV and thanking seemingly everyone in the Labour party by name.

That, coupled with some truly farcical confusion over voting on party rules which could have been a tribute to that Peoples Front of Judea bit from Monty Pythons Life of Brian made it a bit of a weird weekend.

That said, no doubt party members and supporters were delighted with how the conference went, especially if the sheer number of stranding ovations are anything to go by. And, while I didnt do a head count, the number of attendees at least matched and probably surpassed the Conservatives event in Cardiff the previous weekend.

Looking back over the past month of back-to-back spring conferences, Plaid Cymru get the convenience award, holding their event less than two miles from Argus Towers, while the Welsh Lib Dems win the trophy for letting seemingly every single person at their conference get up on stage and speak, even if that wasnt very many people at all.

Meanwhile the Tories win points for the free tea and coffee in the Press room, flashiest presentation and taking up only one day of my week, while Labour get the prize for the most difficult conference to get to, by forcing me into a nine-hour round trip to Llandudno.

Now if youll excuse me, Im going to go and sleep for a week.

l Staying the with Labour conference for a moment, Newport City Council leader Cllr Debbie Wilcox acquitted herself very well, with an impassioned speech about the authoritys work to improve the city and a second about increasing the representation of women in politics, along with a truly bizarre moment when she referred to me directly.

But her reference to Newports new Independent Party may have been something of a misstep, with members of the newly-formed group seizing on her comments on Twitter to claim this proved the councils controlling Labour group is running scared ahead of Mays election.

While they may have got more than a bit carried away the Independents definitely werent the centrepoint of her speech, as some of them claimed the fact that they were specifically name checked does lend them a legitimacy they may have been lacking.

Its all to play for in May.

l Back to the grindstone, in the fortnightly Welsh Conservative Party Press conference yesterday, pro-Brexit Tory leader Andrew RT Davies claimed, tongue lodged firmly in cheek, that God is on our side with Article 50 negotiations set to begin this week.

Id ask God if hes able to verify that but hes notoriously difficult to pin down for an interview.

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Labour conference proves an odd affair - South Wales Argus