Just received this from a friend who is now starting his third day in the queue...The security vetting has stretched to day three. Over 2,000 people have had the conference ruined by a security procedure that amounts to little more than window dressing - no terrorist applies for a pass... and if they wanted to carry out an attrocity they'd be far more resourceful. Instead, 7,500 people have had their driving licences, social security records etc checked and the net effect is wasting a lot of Police time and seriously upsetting the party's supporters for no logical reason. Furthermore, the ticket office is chaos. Nobody knows what is going on. Nobody has any information and people are waiting 3 hours to be told "sorry you application is still being cleared." CCHQ are blaming the Police. The Police have more tactfully said the applications were late. Total incompetence all round.
Names who were not cleared in time included: The Deputy American Ambassador (probably one of the most security cleared men on the planet), Bangladeshi High Commissioner, Michael Dobbs, Lord King, Andrew Lansley, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Andrew Gilligan, Huw Edwards BBC News, Martha Kearney, Clare Kerr (Ancram's daughter), Robin Lustig.
Guido has just reported that he got in within 5 minutes, having only applied for his pass last Friday!
ReplyDeleteHave any journalists been unable to get in?
ReplyDeleteThey are the people the conference is really for.
neil craig is spot on!
ReplyDeleteTo listen to the journalists, especially that self regarding ITN man, you realise that politics is only for the Westminster people and journalists.
Power to the people. Lets all vote for a new party!
I am reminded of the Cannes Film Festival, but I thought that was just a French thing. Perhaps,it's a sign of how Dave is steering the party towards Europe.
ReplyDeleteCould this be sabotage by the NuLabour government and its tame politicised police?
ReplyDeleteLabour's problems stemmed from the fact that they ditched the professional conference organisers they used to outsource their security vetting to and left it in the hands of Party staff.
ReplyDeleteThe same staff who were informed that morning they were being made redundant and less likely to go the extra mile.
What's the Tory's excuse? Surely aping Blair taken to extremes.
Iain, how can it be the fault of the Police when there haven't been any problems at any other conference?
ReplyDeleteHaven't we had enough of Maude now. A List cock-ups. Party Conference queue cock-up. Porn industry connections not resigned exposing Cameron to ridicule. Labour needs John Prescott to keep the left onside. Why do we need an equivalent incompetent outdated self-interested representative from another era? I thought we wanted to modernise, not become famous for sleaze and incompetence.
ReplyDeleteWhat an absolute disgrace and embarassment. If we can't solve a few passes, how can we solve the country's woes? Anyone who has had to wait more than half a day should be compensated the whole amount they have spent during their stay in Bournemouth. Someone should be held accountable for this fiasco - security clearance nonsense as a reason is unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteSorry to harp on, but all this goes to show that Boys Dave and George and the little lads and lasses at CCHQ are just not up to the job. How can they be? They've either no experience or are just abject failures. Note how anyone of any ability is keeping their head down and their powder dry - appropriate I hope?
ReplyDeleteMy experiences were not unusual. Rang CCO several times in the weeks before conference to be told everything was fine and my application was being processed. Rang the week before to be told passes were not being posted out as they were worried that they would go astray and they would not have time to produce duplicates (!)
ReplyDeleteWent to Bournemouth 4 days before conference to be told they had not received my application! Made me pay another £150 ('You will be able to claim it back') and filled out new form. Told me pass ready Fri eve..Sat...Sun...Mon...Tues, finally got it 4pm mon!
A shambles!
www.MattDeanSoton.blogspot.com
tories in a queue, now you know how it felt in the 80's for those 3 million you left on the dole. my heart bleeds.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing that queue Iain.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't we have a caption competition?
"The Conservatives aren't working"
It'll hav'em rolling in the gutters up in Bradford, I'll tell you!
Doom.
"The Deputy American Ambassador (probably one of the most security cleared men on the planet),"
ReplyDeletebut surely, as a representative of part of the axis of evil 9the government, not the people), someone who should have been excluded totally?
Francis Maude should order an investigation - one of my members had his conference ruined by a two-day wait for his pass. And it was his first conference! Maybe people should threaten CCHQ/Dorset Police with civil action to recover hotel and travel fees?
ReplyDeleteWell I think it is good for the Tories to be subjected to this, it might politicise them, radicalise them;) , us lefties get the hassle all the time. Years ago, (cue 4 Yorkshiremen Sketch) I remember lots of lovely fluffy pink rinsed Tory ladies on the Live Exports Campaign in Hove, it was a good lesson for them in realpolitik once they tangled with the Met in riot gear charging!
ReplyDeleteWidde said "are there any real men left in this party?" well she has the cojones, real men don;t eat quiche or vote Tory, Labours got all the unreconstructed (and deconstructed) men, Prescott, Reid, Cherie... ;)
ps Iain when will you come out of the closet drop the fantasy and confess you are actually a Tory blogger, there is a 12 step group like AA for people like you in denial, Independent Blogger, prove it? ¡Le partimos los cojones!
Great to see you in The Guardian video!
Well I think it is good for the Tories to be subjected to this, it might politicise them, radicalise them;) , us lefties get the hassled all the time. Years ago, (cue 4 Yorkshiremen Sketch) I remember lots of lovely fluffy pink rinsed Tory ladies on the Live Exports Campaign in Hove, it was a good lesson for them in realpolitik once they tangled with the Met in riot gear charging!
Widde said "are there any real men left in this party?" well she has the cojones, real men dannae eat quiche or vote Tory, Labours got all the unreconstructed (and deconstructed) men, Prescott, Reid, Cherie... ;)
ps Iain when will you come out of the closet drop the fantasy and confess you are actually a Tory blogger, there is a 12 step group like AA for people like you in denial, Independent Blogger, prove it? ¡Le partimos los cojones!
Great to see you in The Guardian video!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/page/0,,1886433,00.html
Half of that list shouldn't be let in anyway. An absolute shower!
ReplyDeleteI know what Dave said but I can already hear someone saying "if we only had ID cards, none of this would be necessary . . ."
ReplyDeleteAlright I admit it, I'm paranoid but I still reckon this has been done on purpose to put ID cards back on the Tory agenda.
This is democracy in modern Britain.
ReplyDeleteState harassment of the opposition party.
Nothing of real susbstance is being discussed,so they aren't missing much!
ReplyDeleteFlip Osborne is missing (is it a Kennedy moment?)-if you see him please ring Daily Politics.
ReplyDeleteAnd you people think you could run the country?
ReplyDeleteWhat self-respecting terror organisation would waste good ordnance on HM Opposition?
ReplyDeleteCommiserations to the queuers.
'Total incompetence all round', says Iain's friend. The response would have to be delivered by Basil Fawlty, in the voice he uses to address Mrs Richards: 'And may I ask what you were expecting to see, at a conference organised by the Conservative Party?'
ReplyDeleteCameron's HQ is staffed by the Tamzen Lightwaters of this world. Couldn't run a bloody whelk stall. My kingdom for a brace of decent clerks. Talk about NuLab incompetence.
ReplyDeleteHow about a little moderation around here Iain. This is looking more and more like a Labour blog.
ReplyDeleteA copper-bottomed shambles. There quite clearly should have been LISTS for entry.
ReplyDeleteA List: wimmin, folk of ethnicity, very young Tory men, ex-Labour candidates for Horsham.
B List: Scribblers and telly stars.
C List: Traditional old buggers who have been members for years.
D List: Tebbit Heffer Daley Littlejohn
I gather the conference will be held at the Ministry of Sound next year and entry will be secured by the bouncer shining a funny torch on your tattoo to check it's the real McCoy.
I've posted a whole bunch of games on my blog to keep them happy while they are stuck in the line. Anybody at the conference should feel free to pass them on.
ReplyDeletewww.disillusionedandbored.blogspot.com
Johnathan's comment notwithstanding, this is the sort of thing which afflicts Wimbledon and Lords as well. I gave those away years ago.
ReplyDeleteAnd you lot want to convince us you're fit to run the country?!
ReplyDeleteFootnote: Record attendance at LD conference (6,000); registration areas notable for their lack of queuing, as remarked on by veterans.
Iain is there any chance that you could ask at the booking office if there are any tickets still available for My Chemical Romance in November. The BIC is out of bounds for the locals who pay their council tax!
ReplyDeletePoliticised Police reads for me. Incompetent Chairman does too.
ReplyDeleteMost security seems to me to be aimed at incoveniencing the public, to convince them that they're safer. Just went a bit far this time.
ReplyDeleteIf Osama wants to get into the conference he should apply for a stand in the exhibition hall, like the scientologists.
My definition of Britishness comes from the late 60's "Battle Of Britain" movie - the British Ambassador's (in Switzerland) reply to his German counterpart:
ReplyDelete"you can't dictate terms to us until your marching up Whitehall - AND EVEN THEN WE WON'T LISTEN"
So now, when Boris says "you can't tell us not to feed pies to our children" he's chased around by the press trying to pin a "another Boris gaff" story on him.
Am I missing something or is it time to leave for the USA?
Why can't he open up this very reasonable, liberal thread of debate?
I'm starting to grow sick of this place, and a little ashamed. Why isn't Cameron backing his right to a liberal opinion?
Johann Hari has a liberal critique of Cameron that might be worth linking to, Ian
ReplyDeleteDavid Cameron's sweet music is designed to hide the reality of his policies
Hug a hoodie but shut down services for them; hug a huskie but build more roads
Later today, David Cameron will lead the Tory Party in a rousing chorus of kum-by-ya – or hum some equally intellectually insubstantial mood-music – and the press will moisten and cheer at the creation of this electable new brand of Tory Lite. In the midst of a conference where Cameron’s most substantial commitment so far has been a radical pro-sunshine policy (“Let the sunshine win!” he called on Sunday), it is easy to forget the inches of real difference that lie between our main political parties.
Here’s one. In a few days, the British minimum wage rises by 30p an hour. It doesn’t sound like much – the cost of a pint of milk – but to more than one million people, it will add up to a wage increase of £625 a year. When you earn just £11,000, that’s the difference between your kids getting to go on holiday this summer or not. Just over a year ago, David Cameron vehemently opposed this increase, along with the massed blue ranks of the Tories who will cheer him today. Even now, he is silent about whether he supports Labour’s inflation-beating increases.
If you look through the trickle of Tory policy papers under Cameron – and yes, I really am that sad – you will find dozens of pin-pricks like this in the bright bouncy castle he is trying to coax us all into.
Continues at...
http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=998
CCHQ incompetence, plain and simple. Everything they do in every area is chaotic and disorganised-I know this from experience.
ReplyDeleteThis is what you get for hiring arrogant young little twerps with joke degrees.
They should have anticipated increased security and sent out pass applications earlier with earlier deadlines. But,they're too busy getting drunk at the Speaker, talking way too loud and inflciting their idiot opinions on everybody else all the while loudly proclaiming their disdain for anyone over the age of 25 without a joke degree.
Who would have thought a Tony Blair tribute act would generate such queues;
ReplyDeleteAt least Ming Campbell tries to be different...& he always has a supply of Wether's originals!