The red green zone

The theme for Labour’s conference which started today was ‘winning the fight for Britain’s future’ – and ready to fight they were.

The conference descended on Manchester with a mammoth security operation – the local paper even reported that one man’s 999 call had not been responded to for an hour because police were busy guarding the event.

Sealed off behind fencing and a wall of armed, uniformed and mounted police, the main venue forms a sort of ‘green zone’ in the middle of the city which only people with the right pass can access.

The drawn-out application process for passes started months ago, more than enough time to weed out any terrorists and hecklers. Unfortunately a few others also fell victim to the application process – including Nottingham North Constituency Labour Party who, after a mix up with their application, didn’t manage to get accreditation for a delegate.

Luckily their MP Graham Allen stepped up to the mark. But oddly that means he now holds the rare position of being both Nottingham North MP at the conference and his own local party’s delegate – that is devotion.

SEE Ed Miliband at the conference at our politics website, by clicking here

By Joseph Watts
Parliamentary correspondent