Labour's NEC agreed to move the 2008 Annual Conference dates. I blogged about it here and here. The posting on Labourhome prompted a response from Labour First's Peter Wheeler today. He said:
Dear Peter,Just noticed the report of the NEC meeting on Thursday.
You are right that I spoke strongly against the way this decision was being done. There is too much decision making on the hoof and the danger of this approach is that it leads to ill considered decisions.There are however advantages in the proposal to bring Conference forward by a day – the principle one being that it allows us to have an extra Conference session, thus allowing more participation by delegates in the working of Conference. As one of the major complaints about Conference is that there is not enough participation by delegates from the floor, it struck me as crassy to vote against this. Sometimes you have to think on your feet!Peter Wheeler
I replied:
Dear Peter
If this proposal had been brought forward with regard to Conference 2009, then everyone could have been given an opportunity to give it proper consideration.
The Party's current NEC has an unfortunate track-record of allowing itself to be 'bounced' into taking decisions by the Party leadership.
In my role as a chair of whatever type of organisation, I have a simple rule - no papers are allowed on the agenda unless they have been through the organisation's due processes, unless there is an over-riding operational requirement demanding a prompt decision arising from circumstances in which no notice could have been given.
If you can provide chapter and verse to meet those tests in this instance, I'll reconsider my position and risk having to criticise the decisions of my colleagues on the CLGA slate.
Over to you.
I await his reply with interest.