I am just about to set off to spend two days at the LibDem Conference in Bournemouth. Should any of you be attending, do come to a fringe meeting I will be chairing tomorrow for a group called Reinventing the State, which Total Politics is sponsoring.Theme: Policy Priorities for Tackling inequality Time: 6.15pm, Royal Bath Hotel Speakers: Norman Lamb MP, Richard Reeves, Stuart Weir
This will be the first time I have been on a public platform with Norman Lamb since he walloped me in North Norfolk in 2005!
Tonight I will be going to the LibDem Blog Awards and no doubt feel like a gooseberry. And tomorrow, the Telegraph will be publishing my list of the Top 50 Liberal Democrats on their website (link to follow). That should stir things up a bit!
This conference is an important one for Nick Clegg. He has yet to stamp his identity on his party and this is his opportunity to do so. He's got two fights on his had - one to get his tax cuts policy through the conference and secondly to persuade his party to adopt the reforms recommended by the Bones Commissions. These take far more powers from the LibDems' rather disparate federal structure and give them to committees based in Cowley Street.
