Conference over, I’ve taken a rather leisurely route back to Suffolk, having first diverted to a quirky hotel bar to spend a few hours with the Awkward Squad, decompressing after the Leader’s Speech.
It is for others to comment on the content of Ed Davey’s speech, but the warm-up, with seventy-one MPs sweeping onto the stage (and beyond) was a powerful reminder of what the Party achieved on 4 July. And the sense of joy after so many years of pain and disappointment was quite cathartic. You might almost feel inspired to deliver the odd leaflet or two. I might even do that at some point.
But I am reminded that my particular “skill” is bureaucracy - dealing with the process stuff that, if not done, restricts the resources available to campaign and, hopefully win. If you like, helping to remove the obstacles to progress.
And whilst I don’t have many official roles, I am modestly good at connecting people to other people who might be able to help them. For example, a conversation with an old friend from Liberal Democrats Abroad, and a conveniently timed Slack message from the Chair of Federal Council, has offered an opportunity to seek improvements to the Party’s technology that might help to connect Local Parties to Liberal Democrat voters and supporters overseas and allow greater involvement in candidate selections, for example.
Often, the challenge when trying to do something is as much about knowing who to talk to and how to reach them and, if I can help with the connections, it seems obvious that I should.
So, my hope is to try and be a little more engaged locally, be a bit more activist in my wider efforts and give a little more back to a Party which has, over very nearly forty years, given me rather more than I might have expected. Because, in the quest to build a better country, we all ought to be willing to make our own small contribution, even if it is an indirect one.
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