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Activists and unions accuse Labour of 'downgrading' conference

Andrew Grice,Barrie Clement
Wednesday 02 October 2002 00:00 BST
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Labour leaders were accused yesterday of downgrading the party's annual conference after they declared that it no longer decided the party's policies.

Constituency activists and trade unions said Tony Blair was "making up the party's rule book as he goes along" while his allies claimed the conference was no longer the party's supreme policy-making body. The critics claimed this flew in the face of guarantees given when Mr Blair set up a National Policy Forum and commissions in different policy areas to develop a long-term programme – but promised the annual conference still had the final say.

The row erupted yesterday in the wake of the conference's decision on Monday to demand an independent value-for-money review of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), which ministers rejected. Charles Clarke, the Labour chairman, said: "The policy of the Labour Party is not the same thing as a resolution passed by the Labour Party conference." He added that Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) was the "leadership" of the party and worked closely with the Government but did "not necessarily" take the same view as the conference.

Peter Mandelson, the former cabinet minister and a close ally of Mr Blair, said: "The Labour Party conference is no longer the policy-making body it was. The constitution [of the party] has changed."

Mr Mandelson said the trade unions had secured "a highly pyrrhic victory" on the PFI because the conference's decision would not affect the Government's policy. He said they were "isolated" because a majority of constituency parties had backed the Government.

Ann Black, who represents constituency parties on the NEC, challenged Mr Mandelson's claim that the conference no longer had the final say. "That's news to me," she said. Dave Prentis, general secretary of the public service union Unison, who has been leading the charge against the PFI, described attempts to ignore conference votes as "arrant nonsense''.

Mr Prentis said: "The Prime Minister has talked about re-engaging with people, getting people involved in the political process and getting them out to vote again. I say very strongly to Charles Clarke that if this is what the Government wants, why were ministers saying three days before debates took place that they would ignore the outcome? This is arrant nonsense. They are simply trying to worm their way out of decisions," he said.

Another prominent critic of the Government, John Edmonds, the general secretary of the GMB union, accused Mr Clarke of attempting to launch a "palace coup''. He said: "When is Charles going to learn his lesson? The way to avoid conflict between the leadership and the membership of the party is through constructive engagement."

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