‘Rowdy, convulsive, vulgar, splenetic’: Winter Gardens to host event to mark 70th anniversary of Labour Party Conference in Morecambe

The 1952 Labour Party conference in Morecambe was one of the most dramatic and important in the party’s history.

One historian wrote: ‘’Men and women who had been there spoke of it 20 years later with bated breath’. Michael Foot said the conference was 'rowdy, convulsive, vulgar, splenetic, threatening at moments to collapse into an irretrievable brawl’.

Held at the Morecambe Winter Gardens, the conference saw Nye Bevan and his allies Harold Wilson and Barbara Castle storm to victory, while union leaders threatened to stop funding the Labour Party, while Liverpool MP Bessie Braddock was caught up in altercations with delegates.

The Labour Party conference never returned to the resort.

Now the iconic venue on the promenade will host an event to commemorate the conference, 70 years ago.

John McDonnell MP will be the keynote speaker for the event, which takes place on Saturday, October 1st, and you can find more information here

Morecambe and Lunesdale Labour have teamed up with a Lancaster-based historian, Dr Richard Johnson, to organise the get-together remembering this historic event in Morecambe’s political life.

As well as the keynote speech, the event will include Pathé footage of the conference, a history talk on the significance of conference, and re-enactments of the most dramatic moments.

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