October again, which means here at Tanked Up we cast a customary cursory glance over what the thinktanks are getting up to on their party conference tour. Progress will be going to Manchester and no further, but our friends in the Fabian Society are heading to Brighton and Birmingham, teaming up with ResPublica and CentreForum along the way to host events in an outbreak of inter-party collaboration. The rightwing Institute of Economic Affairs is also making the round-trip, only it is paying a visit to Brum twice as it goes first to the United Kingdom Independence party shebang there, thence to the Liberal Democrats, then back to the Midlands for the Tories … but not north to hang out with the pinko Labourites, it seems. The New Local Government Network appears to be opting to attend only Conservative conference, perhaps a bit of a loss for the growing number of Labour local government types who would like to discuss all things town hall at conference, and perhaps a loss for the NLGN too. Never fear, though, there is a new kid on the block, the Cooperative Councils Network, which founder member and leader of Lambeth council Steve Reed is reported to have described as a ‘thinktank that actually does things’. So it is a sort of new local government network, then.
Higher up the greasy pole, conference season opened with senior political figures battling to shape the debate and steer the parties in their desired direction. Nick Clegg finally decided to apologise for tuition fees, while Harriet Harman in interview with this magazine took aim and shot down the myth of Vince Cable, he who hand-wrings in private, looks ‘uncomfortable’ in public, yet stays put nonetheless. But Harman may not be the only one gunning for Cable. Former director of strategy for Nick Clegg, Richard Reeves, who was previously director of Demos and has now added to his thinktank CV by becoming associate director at CentreForum, published a pamphlet with Demos entitled A Liberal Inside, an account of life in the coalition and clarion call for the party to ditch posing as a leftwing party and re-embrace true liberalism. It is a move that is surely a useful bit of outriding for Clegg – Reeves even ventures to call this renewed creed ‘Cleggism’ – and which could add a bit of intellectual ballast to the debate over where the Liberal Democrats go next. But whether the party faithful take to becoming a truly Liberal party again remains to be seen.