And when you pass security for what feels like the 100th time; it finally hits you. You're at the Liberal Democrat Conference. And we're in Government.

Conference... Conference... Conference...

"Initially daunting, then it becomes interesting...
        ...and surprisingly right wing."
 Art Malik (Actor and supporter of the Liberal Democrats) on his first experience of conference.

Daunting? Yes.
Interesting? Definitely.
Right wing? Not so sure.

This blog will differ from the usual style.
Unlike usual, I'd like to talk about my own experience; my experience as a first-timer at the Lib Dem Conference last weekend.

Saturday morning; I wasn't really sure what to expect.
Having registered in my trade mark style (on the last minute), I had only been sent a brief letter and my conference pass by post. The rest had to be collected on site.
Therefore, I really had no idea what I was letting myself in for.

As I disembarked the bus in Liverpool city centre and headed vaguely in the direction of the ACC; I started to notice strange splashes of yellow amongst the typically urban grey surroundings...
Serious looking suited persons passing by; and that glimpse of yellow again, again, again...

I am of course referring to the yellow lanyards worn by conference members. With each passing lanyard, I found myself walking faster and faster as the excitement kicked in. Eventually, having dodged people, cars, buses and protesters I found myself standing outside the ACC. After a brief salute to the Lib Dem flags outside I stepped into the chaos of the security tent.

After receiving my own precious lanyard and having got through security without any bomb scares, I then proceeded to pick up my brick sorry conference papers from the designated desk.

Bewildered, and with an hour or so to pass until Conference was formally opened, I explored the maze of stalls on the ground floor, fighting off the woman at the Womens Liberal Democrats' stall who had a worrying obsession with Eleanor Rathburn...

Eventually, it reached 2.30pm and I excitedly entered the Conference Hall. Baroness Walmsley formally opened the conference by making a short speech with as much boasting of "we're in Government now" as possible which of course, was all good stuff.

From 2.35-4.15 I intermittently sat through three different reports; The Federal Conference Committee report , The Federal Policy Committee report and finally the membership subscriptions report. To be brutally honest, these weren't exactly enthralling but perhaps this was because I was too overwhelmed by the whole concept of conference it was hard to concentrate.

Then followed a debate on 'Transactions Transparency and conflicts of interest in Government' which was interesting although hard to follow.
However, having looked back at the Agenda when at home and having studied the topic in more detail it made much more sense.

The debate looked at imposing a Civil Service Law which prevents public servants from being appointed when they are involved in (e.g. through shares) or even outright own the companies and services they are dealing with.
Another key area of concern was public servants leaving their posts to take up highly rewarded roles with suppliers or government organisations, as a result of these organisations benefiting from the decisions made by such public servants.

The debate, was fast moving and raised a number of issues for instance what exactly counts for ownership? It was pointed out that many people invested their pensions in a company, therefore, most people would be excluded.
Eventually, the idea of passing a Civil Service Law was favoured by conference and it was pointed out that it was strange that we didn't already have one as so many of our European neighbours did.

Later followed my first and most regrettably my only fringe event; The AV Rally...
The place was heaving.
This was to be expected though as of course the AV referendum is crucial to the Lib Dems as a party.
There was also the small matter that a certain Nick Clegg would be making an appearance...
Other speakers included;
Art Malik (Actor and Supporter of the Lib Dems)
Jo Swinson (Lib Dem MP)
Tim Farron (Lib Dem MP and always a good laugh!)
Martin Bell (Former Independent MP)
Pam Giddy (Leader of the Yes to AV campaign)

AV Balloons filled the air and it was rather ironic to see serious looking politicians batting them about like 5 year olds at a Mc Donald's party...
There was a good atmosphere; the rally was exciting, passionate and unifying but with a serious undertone as Nick Clegg warned coalition doubters;
"Don't let the best be the enemy of the good."
No, this isn't Proportional Representation but it's better than first past the post.
Although, personally I think anything, even a  'put your heads down and hands up' school style voting system would be more democratic that first past the post...

And that was Saturday.
I have decided to split my conference write-up into two days as I feel each day was a separate experience on a variety of different levels. For instance; Sunday was much more settled and therefore I paid more attention to the content instead of the atmosphere of the conference.