‘Straight to YouTube’: fringe talks won’t be streamed live from Tory conference
Low interest is challenging organisers, with business day tickets still not sold, speakers reluctant to engage and attendees dialling back their time. The experience of losing power is a brutal business. The ministerial cars disappear, the armies of advisers disperse and the utterances of newly former ministers cease to dominate the airwaves. Now the Conservative party is suffering from another symptom of its dramatic ejection from office: a somewhat suppressed level of interest in its party conference, usually the jewel in the crown of the Tory calendar. Figures involved in organising events and talks at the conference report it has been a struggle in the wake of the Conservatives’ historic defeat. Organisers are pushing back deadlines and offering to help chase reluctant speakers for fringe events, a source close to the party has told the Observer.
Continue reading…
