Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

Rob MacGregor of the union Unite was in sparkling form at this lunch time’s fringe meeting on building societies, lending and the economy at the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Speaking on the platform of The Feeling’s Mutual: The Case for a Diverse Finance Sector, and arguing for the remutualising of Northern Rock, Rob got cheers [...]

One familiar face missing from conference this year is that of Tony Benn. His son Hilary, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, stopped by the Tribune stand a few minutes ago. I asked him how his father, such a good friend of Tribune and the Labour movement for so many years, [...]

In less than half an hour, Labour’s conference is due to vote on rule changes including the controversial one-member-one-vote proposal for its national policy forum (see Chris’ post below) which could make it easier for more left-wing policies to be adopted by the party – a move the Labour leadership bitterly opposes. But there’ve been [...]

The burned out West Pier at Brighton, just in front of the Brighton Centre where conference is being held, provided a backdrop for several TV news programmes doing interviews with ministers and activists. It also provided something of a metaphor this year for the end of the New Labour project. All burned out and with [...]

When, in 1992, the most popular daily newspaper in Britain boasted: “It was The Sun wot won it” after Neil Kinnock snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and John Major was returned to Number 10, that election defeat [and those words] seared themselves on the Labour Party hierarchy. Which was why Tony Blair and [...]

Meeting a personal hero, as we are sometimes lucky enough to in this line of work, only to discover that they are not quite as tall/clever/goodlooking/sincere as you had always belived them to be can put you in a funk for days. Discovering that they are in fact vain/rude/big-headed is so much worse. Happily there’s [...]

John Denham, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, was in fighting form at the Compass/Tribune No Turning Back rally on Sunday night. So much so that he had a popular pop at Neal Lawson for inviting Caroline Lucas on to a Labour Party platform at a Labour Party conference when she is standing [...]

At Bournemouth two years ago – and, to a lesser extent, in Manchester last year – purple ties were all the vogue. The leader wore them, so did many of the acolytes, and a worrying number of delegates, too. This year, in Brighton, there’s not a purple prince of pleasure to be seen around the [...]