Chance encounters may pay dividends
There are two interesting things I notice as I walk around the Birmingham Conference Centre.
The first is just how many people from the Eastern region are here. Every few minutes you come across a councillor or an MP you know. The party dominates the Eastern counties' politics and now it's back in power, its activists are here en masse to celebrate and savour the experience.
Many at the well-attended Eastern Region reception admitted to being at Conference for the first time in many years.
"I wouldn't have missed this for the world," said one councillor from Great Yarmouth. "We've worked hard for ages to get our party here."
Another, from Norwich, had a different take: "We might as well celebrate now before we become unpopular. Next year we're going to probably get a stuffing in the local elections."
They're also here to rub shoulders with those who now make the decisions.
Many delegates are seizing the opportunity of being back in government to lobby for their local causes.
As ministers and their advisers walk through the conference centre they are bombarded with appeals.
"We ran into Philip Hammond (the Transport Secretary) as he came out of his speech and shouted at him, 'Don't forget to dual the A11'," said Ann Steward, a Norfolk county councillor.
In fact, the A11 cause has been so heavily pushed here that ministers insist they've got the message.
Mr Hammond was walking through the Hyatt Hotel the other day when he was confronted by Elizabeth Truss and Matthew Hancock - two of the main advocates for dualling: "Please don't say anything else about the A11," he pleaded.
The upgrade of the A14 through Cambridgeshire has also been flagged up this week while the leader of Fenland Council said he'd had a useful conversation with Housing Minister Grant Shapps about plans to build more social housing in the district.
And there are many other local issues being dropped into these chance encounters.
The Eastern Region probably has the ear of ministers on a scale not seen for the last 13 years. The government would never make a policy decision based soley on lobbying from its own people - but it certainly does no harm and keeps the issue alive in the mind of the minister.
And that might just pay dividends in the future.
Welcome to the political blog for the East. I'm Deborah McGurran, the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's Political Editor for the region. From Lowestoft to Luton, this is the place for politics with an eastern twist.
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