Labour’s conference was a ‘safe space’ from the masses

With Reform UK surging in opinion polls and Nigel Farage living rent-free in Keir Starmer’s head, it is hardly surprising that Labour officials sought to make the party’s annual conference a ‘safe space’. In Liverpool this week, all the features we’ve come to associate with the modern university campus were on display.

First up was the all-important reminder that ‘Consent Matters!’. Posters in the women’s toilets urged delegates to ‘show respect at all times to all attendees’. Fair enough. But the need for such a sign indicates that Labour’s conference organisers have a very low view of delegates. And the fact that these posters were, apparently, exclusively in the ladies’ loos suggests it’s women in particular they consider most likely to cause trouble.

The infantilism did not stop there. Respect, women attendees were informed, must be demonstrated in a particular way: ‘Check out first with people about how they feel about any physical contact – whether that’s a handshake, a high five, a fist bump or a hug.’ The poster continued, ‘Remember, if anyone says “no”, whether through words or through body language, you must always respect their wishes immediately’. This is the stuff of a campus ‘consent class’, and it is as patronising and insulting whether it’s delivered to students in a lecture theatre, or to Labour Party members in a conference-centre bathroom.

The image of delegates asking permission before extending a hand of friendship is both hilarious and dystopian. The practice of hand-shaking is said to have originated in Ancient Greece as a way for people to prove they are not brandishing weapons and that they trust each other. That an open palm is now greeted with trepidation, seen as a potential trigger for an emotional meltdown, reveals the paranoia of Labour’s conference organisers. That these posters appeared only in the women’s toilets tells us what those in charge really fear: bolshy women determined to defend their right to a single-sex space.

Labour’s conference mimicked a campus safe space in other ways, too. There were restrictions on free speech and attempts to block debate. Owen Jones was one of four journalists to have had their press passes revoked after asking delegates, MPs and cabinet ministers questions, most notably about Labour’s policy in relation to Israel. I disagree entirely with the agenda Jones and the other barred journalists were pursuing, and think there is no obligation on conference organisers to extend invitations to people they would rather not have present. Nevertheless, the decision to ban him and his comrades reveals much about Labour’s distinct brand of authoritarianism.

For a start, there’s the hypocrisy. Just four days earlier, Starmer criticised Reform members of Nottinghamshire County Council for refusing to give interviews to a local newspaper. He told the BBC the decision was ‘the complete opposite of free speech’ and lacked ‘basic accountability’. Yet when Labour’s conference delegates risked being confronted with challenging questions, the immediate impulse of organisers was to silence the gadfly. Worse still was Labour’s pathetic justification for revoking the press passes. The email informing Jones he was not welcome claimed: ‘We have a responsibility to safeguard all of our delegates, staff, volunteers and visitors, and to maintain a safe and welcoming environment for everyone at conference.’

The language of ‘safeguarding’ takes us back once more to the campus safe space, where all possible emotional discomforts are to be eradicated. References to ‘our safeguarding obligations’ suggest the Labour Party conference was to be free from argument and political disagreement to protect delicate attendees who might swoon over contested ideas. This censorship dressed up as emotional safety has been a hallmark of universities for at least two decades. Of course, for much of this time, calls to shield supposedly vulnerable groups from debate were once championed by Jones and his ilk. As Matt Ridley argued earlier this week on spiked, on cancel culture as with so many issues, the left is constantly being hoist by its own petard.

There’s another comparison that can be made between the Labour conference and the campus safe space. Not all groups are afforded the same protection. While posters in toilets warned women delegates to watch their behaviour, Labour MPs once again took the opportunity to call into question women’s sex-based rights.

Lucy Powell, favourite to become Labour’s next deputy leader, came out against single-sex spaces for women. She criticised guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which was drawn up in the wake of April’s Supreme Court ruling that, under the law, ‘woman’ refers to a biological reality, not a gender identity. Speaking at a fringe event, Powell said: ‘I think we have got some of the language not right on this, and particularly around some of the guidance that’s coming forward.’ She declared that MPs should review the EHRC’s backing of single-sex spaces, paving the way for it to be overturned. Culture secretary Lisa Nandy was at it too, claiming that transgender athletes should be able to compete in some sports as ‘inclusion’ was to be placed first in a list of considerations, above both fairness and safety.

The Labour conference revealed that the party hierarchy holds its members in contempt. They are perceived as so uncouth they need reminding how to behave, so fragile they need protecting from questions, and so uppity they think the law is on their side when it comes to defending women’s sex-based rights. Still, all that pales in comparison with the disdain Labour’s leaders have for the voters out there in the country. The ‘safe space’ they really yearn for is a permanent refuge from the masses.

Joanna Williams is a spiked columnist and author of How Woke Won. Follow her on Substack: cieo.substack.com.