This was a conference with no resolutions or policy votes. It was, seemingly, the vehicle for the election (or selection) of youth rep on the NEC and the National Policy Forum. Activities were primarily social or skill-building - as we could not be trusted to make policies without certain skills.
Bournemouth's mayor welcomed us at a wine reception (lounge suits mandatory for guests) and the company was dominated by the Young Labour junta floating around together in mutual appreciation. Young Labour is run by a self-perpetuating clique which appoints new leaders from its own ranks or the ranks of its sycophants.
The first session heard speeches from Stephen Twigg and Gordon Brown. Brown was not challenged on any element of his budget or New Labour policy in the short and innocuous question time. Any discussion or dissent was soaked up in policy workshops.
In elections for the NEC Youth rep four candidates stood. The key contest was between Sarah Ward, who attracted over 60% of the vote, and Raj Jethwa (backed by the GMB and Young Labour Left). The elections to the Party's Policy Forum saw similar results. Unfortunately the left has never organised sufficiently to be more than an irritation. We leave each Youth or Student Conference full of feigned optimism yet we are permanently stuck on about a third of the vote.
At a left fringe meeting addressed by Ken Livingstone, we ran over the old issues around organisation and performance, and asked if the left can ever unite around one candidate. But we reached no useful conclusions. A good start for the left in Young Labour would be to spearhead the campaign to clean it up. Whether this presents itself as an organised Campaign for Young Labour Democracy, or just through the words and deeds of left-wing candidates will be up to us.
As Tony Blair delivered his divisive and infuriating speech about what was Labour Into Power, the irony cannot have by-passed everyone when he declared that he didn't want to return to a time when unrepresentative cliques were all powerful.