Monday 30 September 2019

Party conference

Yesterday the conservative party conference started, which is happening while parliament is in session, unusual as this has never happened before and because last Tuesday the Supreme court said prorogation was unlawful!

The agenda:-

Building a Safe and Prosperous Britain
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Delivering Brexit

James Cleverly opened proceedings as party Chairman, and told the hall that he and Johnson had signed the Armed Forces Covenant on behalf of the Conservative party, while other pre-briefed announcements were left to outside the hall.

There is the row about whether Boris Johnson failed to declare a conflict of interest over his relationship with tech businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri. He insisted on Marr Sunday morning, that there was 'no interest to declare' following the latest allegations that the pair were not just enjoying [technology lessons] together. The story here is about money, and whether it was right that Arcuri received public funds while Johnson was Mayor, and whether she got access to trade delegations which she had not been deemed eligible to go on as a result of those technology lessons.

Every party conference starts with briefings that aides 'want to focus on domestic policy' rather than the rows about Europe. That has been going on for long enough for all of us to know that this just is not how things often work out. But today will be a very domestically-focused day. The big speech of the day comes from Chancellor Sajid Javid, who will presumably want to suggest that he is not just the guy who signs the cheques written by Boris Johnson, but someone with an authority of his own.

There are also speeches and panel discussions on welfare reform, education, infrastructure and business. We will get announcements on planning, infrastructure spending and employment.

Today's agenda:-

Morning
Boosting Our Public Services
Creating a World Class Education System
Spreading Opportunity Across the Country

Afternoon
Growing Our Economy and Protecting Our Environment
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Building the Infrastructure Britain Needs
Remember the MPs have to travel 200 miles south to vote!

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