Labour Party Democracy?

In what regular readers of this blog (Sid and Doris Blogger) will immediately recognise as a triumph of hope over experience I am hopeful that the trade union vote at Labour Party Conference will support the direct election of members of the National Policy Forum (NPF).

This would be useful since the left is able to get candidates elected to the directly-elected constituency section of the National Executive Council but is frozen out of the indirect election to the National Policy Forum which - since New Labour began - has largely usurped the policy making role of Conference.

Those few of us in UNISON who still believe that something good might possibly be done with our relationship with the Labour Party (and who are therefore prepared to be honest about our political affiliations) must hope for a better composition of the NPF if we are to stand a chance of winning the Party to our policies.

Whether any of this now matters, and whether the Party now meeting in Brighton can make any meaningful difference for UNISON members is of course itself now very much open to debate.

Update on Friday - on this occasion hope did in fact triumph over experience.