Party time

Party Conferences are upon us. The Lib Dems are heading home from Liverpool. Labour are about to descend upon Manchester. I will be off to Birmingham.

All three will be distinct occasions. We will welcome our first Prime Minister in 13 years. The tone will be united, optimistic but far from triumphant. There will be hard times ahead. We have a tough legacy to deal with and many hard choices to make.

Labour will unveil their new leader. They will do well to choose someone right of centre. Clinging to the Old Labour mantra that splashing money around means better services will be fundamentally out of step with public belief.

The last Labour Government tested this theory to destruction and most of us no longer accept it. The art for the Left now will be to articulate a credible approach to improving public services through reform rather than cash and centralised control.

The Lib Dems will probably have the most delicate conference. They greeted Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister, the first Liberal to hold Cabinet office since the second world war, and yet they are rock bottom in the polls. If there were an election tomorrow they would probably be punished by traditional Labour voters who supported them tactically last time around in order to keep the Conservatives out.

In addition, they are finally in government – the luxury of perpetual opposition is over — they will now be judged on their record in office. I hope their conference is deemed a success. I have become increasingly positive about our Coalition and the Lib Dems have been decent and honourable partners. A united Lib Dem Party will help the coalition endure for the benefit of us all.