1. Parliamentary recess
The House of Commons rose for conference recess on Thursday 16 September. It will return again on Monday 11 October 2010.
The House of Lords remains on recess, and will return on Tuesday 5 October 2010.
2. Party conferences
Labour Party conference took place this week in Manchester from 26-30 September. Conference was dominated by talk of David Miliband’s reaction to his close loss in the leadership contest to his younger brother, Ed. In the end, David Miliband announced that he would not be standing for shadow cabinet, arguing that this would allow his brother the space he needed to lead the party without the distraction of media scrutiny of their relationship.
Conservative Party conference will be in Birmingham, from 3-6 October. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne will address the conference on Monday 4 October, with David Cameron addressing conference on Wednesday 6 October.
3. Labour Party shadow cabinet elections
Nominations are now open for the Labour shadow cabinet elections. Labour’s shadow cabinet is largely determined democratically by the parliamentary party, with 19 elected through the AV system and seven ex officio members who qualify as a result of their position with party (including party leader, deputy leader, chair of the parliamentary party and leader of the party in the Lords). Once the results have been announced the party leader assigns those elected to their particular portfolios.
The timetable for the Shadow Cabinet elections is as follows:
26 September 2010: Nominations open
29 September 2010: Nominations close at 5 pm
4 October 2010: Voting begins
7 October 2010: Voting ends at 5 pm, and results are announced at 10 pm
The following is a list of candidates who are standing or rumoured to be standing:
http://www.labourlist.org/candidates-for-the-shadow-cabinet