"It's not that we don't trust you... but we don't..."

So, here I am, in the hall for the consultative session on the Party Reform Commission.

We've just debated the governance proposals, and a series of speakers have stepped up to the microphone, generally welcomed the Report, and then condemned the proposed Chief Officers Group (COG), for a range of reasons related to diversity, scrutiny and, in the case of John Smithson, a former Regional Chair, basic distrust of the leadership.

Distrust of the leadership? Sadly, yes, there is, and there always will be. It isn't necessarily the Leader himself, more the people around him. We can't see them, they seek to control access, and we don't have any meaningful scrutiny over them or their roles. In such an atmosphere, distrust grows, especially in an organisation with a noble tradition of bloody-minded radicalism.

I would urge the Commission and the Leadership to pay heed to our concerns. It will be a clear indicator of the direction of travel of the Party if they are ignored. Indeed, if a vote were to be called for (and it won't be in this instance), the governance element might well have been rejected or referred back. That does not augur well for lasting, effective reform.