Self censorship

The Iraq debate at the Labour Party conference turned out to be just as much of a travesty as we had feared. Every stratagem in the party's long history of fixing the outcome of seditious mass meetings was deployed to exclude any formal party opposition to the war. From the wording of the motion, through the seemingly amateurish chairmanship to the tearful appeals from unannounced outsiders, the proceedings were a disgrace. The vote was a foregone conclusion long before it was taken. This was a triumph of organisation. Whether it was an accurate reflection of conference sentiment is another matter.