For the glossy version go to the Labour Party Conference guide. But a couple of days ago when I was checking out MemberCentre, I had a thought. MemberCentre is part of the internal Labour Party IT offer. For those good democractic socialist volunteers who give their time to keep other members informed about local issues, meetings, campaigning and fundraising activity it offers genuine value - realtime access to members' details.
I blogged and tweeted about its shortcomings and how they might be improved a couple of days ago and issued an invitation to our new general secretary designate and also our Leader. In the first instance local communication capacity depends on each member taking on a responsibility. I wrote:
That is why I launched an appeal on Twitter to all Labour Party members to update their personal details on Membersnet - get your membership card ready to register. I invite the Leader and the GS-designate to retweet.
I had written about my impressions of Iain shortly after his appointment here. I started my piece with:
I welcome Iain McNicol's election as the Labour Party's next General Secretary. I would not describe him as a buddy, or close personal friend. Iain is a comrade. And I would like to share two experiences that highlight why.
So I was not exactly surprised when last night, in true comradely fashion, @Iainmcnicol retweeted my appeal.
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I am now attempting to pass this message on to every CLP in the country. It hasn't required a change in the Labour Party rules for me to attempt this task. But if you can help, please let me know. In their turn I hope every CLP will pass it on to every branch, and every branch to every member - even those who currently don't declare an eMail address. As I discovered in City of London branch some 20% of members actually had one, but had never disclosed it previously to the Labour Party.
It is partly about trust. So here's a practical way in which we can start to Refound the Labour Party, in line with the Manchester Declaration and the aims of the Labour Democratic Network. of which I am secretary.