THE yellow peril lived up to its name in sun-kissed Bournemouth.
There were yellow T-shirts, yellow shoes, yellow hats, yellow ties and even yellow hair. MP Luciana Berger, one the new Lib Dem defectors, was getting into the swing of things by donning a mustard yellow dress.
Amid a large backdrop - yellow, of course - the inestimable Jo Swinson was on stage taking a Q&A from delegates. One reflected the generally sunny mood by suggesting there should be a new party chant: “Jo, Jo, Super Jo.”
One delegate caused a ripple of laughter when he stood and proudly announced he was a “new member of the Labour…” before correcting the mistake.
Of course, the shiny new party leader was in buoyant mood, having just seen her party back her plan to campaign to revoke Brexit in the forthcoming election campaign.
Arguably the most popular moment came when a 17-year-old attendee accused adults of not being able to “step up” and address the climate change problem and how it was left to “much maturer” children to lead the debate.
Super Jo agreed. "It is shaming for that generation of adults that it's children and young people who are this amazing strong voice we are seeing." She referenced the work of 16-year-old campaigner Greta Thunberg and confirmed she would be on the front line on Friday in Glasgow taking part in the schools’ global climate strike.
Later, the party chief was asked if she was “fluffy”. Super Jo paused: “Well, yeah,” she spluttered and then added to applause: “Let’s just say, I was elected to Parliament as a 25-year-old woman. So, I have experience of being under-estimated. People only ever do it once.”
But amid the sunny uplands of Lib Demery not everyone was happy.
One delegate questioned the acceptance of some of the defectors. This followed the resignation of Jennie Rigg, who chaired the party’s LGBT caucus, after former Tory minister Philip Lee joined the party. She branded him "a homophobe, a xenophobe, and someone who thinks people should be barred from the country if they are ill".
After the yellow peril’s leader insisted Dr L had been vetted by none other than Alistair Carmichael, the Chief Whip, following an avuncular fireside chat, she expressed confidence the ex-Conservative shared their liberal values, a heckler piped up.
But Councillor Catherine Finnecy shouted out from her seat in the conference hall that Super Jo was supporting "Ukip policy"; a reference to Dr Lee's amendment to the Immigration Bill that would have seen immigrants tested for "prescribed pathogens", including HIV, before getting immigration permission.
After the Q&A, the good councillor expressed a somewhat jaundiced view that allowing the turncoat Tory to join the yellow peril had been "a massive f***-up".
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