"Some People Call Me God"

A remit which proposed streamlining party organisation at the electorate and district levels turned out to be a satire on the call for unity between the industrial and political wings of the labour movement issued at the conference earlier by Tom "some people call me God" Skinner. The remit suggested the abolition of Inter-branch councils and Divisional Area Councils and their replacement by single electorate L.R.C.s and Regional Councils.

In the debate that ensued the liberal academics of the political wing clashed head on with trade union leaders who saw the remit as an attempt to undermine their influence in the party. The unionists forced a card vote on the remit and defeated it by 64 votes, thus displaying the great voting strength concentrated in a few trade union hands. One delegate found it altogether too much and challenged the validity of the Engineers' Union vote, which is one of the largest at the conference. The Engineers leader Reg Jones angrily rose to validate his union's position and in doing so made it clear that he considered it impudent for some "twit" to challenge it.