Death of deference
After the Brighton outrage, a lot of people have been writing that party conferences can never be the same. This will probably turn out to be true. The same People have usually talked as if the confer- ences as they are now held are a traditional feature of our politics. This is not so. They have changed over the last 20 years or so Partly because of television, partly because of the death of deference among activists of all parties. The headquarters hotel used to be patronised only by party swells and leading journalists from the more prosper- ous newspaper. Figures such as Lord (as he then wasn't) Whitelaw used to hold court in the hotel lounge until the early hours of the morning, surrounded by half- a:dozen newspapermen and lesser politi- cians. A representative would not have dreamed of approaching him — any more than a Labour delegate would have con- templated apprehending, say,, Aneurin Be- van. It is possible to date fairly precisely the moment of change: it came at the Liberal Assembly at Brighton in 1966, when George Kiloh and Terry Lacey and `Grimond's Red Guards', as they were termed, found they could enter the head- quarters hotel if they had enough cash to buy a glass of beer. The young and not-so-young in the major parties quickly followed the Liberal example. The foyer and bars became crowded with men in beards wearing badges, sitting on the floor even if seats were available. The hotels responded commercially by jettisoning their lounges (which had boasted waiter service) and transforming the space into public bars or into rooms where television could be watched or private parties held. The old, civilised life of the conference hotel disappeared: the journalist who wanted to talk quietly to the politician, or the politician who wanted to talk quietly to another politician, found he had to go out to dinner with his companions, so much of a bear — and beer — garden had the principal hotel become. If the old un- ashamedly elitist days are partially restored it will not be a complete loss. After all, Conservative leaders up to Edward Heath did not appear at the conference till the last day, then Saturday. And Winston Chur- chill did not stay at Blackpool at all, but preferred to spend the Friday night at Lytham St Anne's instead.
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