Now into my second party conference, I am hot on the trail of political snippets around the fringes and of course directly from the conference floor with the Labour Party in Manchester...
Watch extended interviews from the conference below...
Wednesday 27th September 5pm - Throwing questions
 Somewhere there is President Clinton... |
We all have a special talent.
And there's one producer on the BBC Politics team who takes great pride in his ability to shout questions to a passing politician and get a usable response.
It's his voice you hear yelling "Minister, will you resign?" as a pale-faced suit strides resolutely away from the camera.
It's a hundred miles away from the interviewing style of a Paxman or Humphrys but vital nonetheless. What is needed for this strange skill is to construct a question intruiging enough to persuade the politician to responsd but also sufficiently challenging for a worthwhile response.
This producer, who many know simply as "Gobby" has come back triumphant from many a political doorstep - but today's scrum around President Clinton was a particular victory.
Surrounded by Secret Service Agents the former President of the USA was offering only one chance for waiting crews to attempt a shouted question.
The first hapless hack's attempt was a non-starter: "Are you backing Brown for the leadership?"
Well, of course he wasn't answering that.
It looked like Clinton would stride off.
But Gobby chose his question with more care:
"Will you miss talking to Tony?"
Clinton paused, then turned around "Of course I would miss that, but I'm hoping to spend more time with him, not less"
Another winning quote for the evening news.
Gobby returned from the camera pen grinning from ear to ear and offering high fives all around. You don't get much better than a chat in the street with a former US President.
Wednesday 27 Sept 1pm - Where's Woking?
 Has anyone seen the electricity meter..? |
The constant round of fringe events seems to be taxing the patience of Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks.
Arriving late at today's Climate Clinic event he was asked if he wanted to speak straight away.
"After six fringes in 48 hours I think not" was the terse reply.
"I've spent most of the time answering the same questions from the same people" he continued,
"There was one young man this morning who told me he spent a lot of time watching his electricity meter - you are a sector who really know how to have agood time."
One of my colleagues calls him forthright, and says his humour is sometimes misunderstood.
Certainly there were some raised eyebrows at a scornful reference to Woking as a hotbed of alternative energy in action. "Can you believe that Woking may be remembered as the place where the new industrial revolution started?"
Now he was digging a whole big enough for an entire thermal power scheme:
"You know I'd been energy minister for a year before I realised I didn't know where the electricity meter was." Whoops. Hope there weren't any journalists listening!
Tuesday 26 Sept 6pm - That Huw Edwards moment
 It's amazing what a little creme puff will do... |
It gets very hot in conference halls under the TV lights, and all of us who appear on screen rely on the services of Max Factor.
A little dab on the nose to cut down the shine isn't unmanly..
Well.. you get used to it. But in these days of cut backs there's no such thing as the make up lady.
So there I was dabbing on the powder in the gents loos when who should walk in to do the same but Huw Edwards.
Yes, the esteemed presenter of the 10 O'clock news was there at the other end of the urinals with his compact in hand.
"It comes to us all, you know," he says by way of an ice breaker. "I used to get funny looks, but it's a sign of the times, no-one wonders at a man wearing make-up anymore."
Mon 25 Sept 6pm - Cherie gaffe...
 And how's the conference for you so far..? |
For the earlier part of the day I was trailing Cherie as she toured the exhibition stands.
One of the many exhibitors here is Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical firm with a large factory in Basingstoke... which they're in the process of closing, making hundreds of workers redundant.
We have to assume that the Leader of the Labour Party's wife, and her advisors, were unaware of this fact as she chatted to top bosses from the company on the stand.
Cherie even decided to submit herself to their 10 minute health test on the stand.
A senior manager was lined up to do an interview for me about this great honour, until I suggested we talk about the hundreds of Hampshire redundancies.
Suddenly the interview was off and Cherie left the stand without completing the full test...
Mon 25 Sept 3pm - More things Cherie might have said...
 Trade stand visits are a must... |
Bloomberg journalist standing just a few feet from Cherie as she listens to Gordon Brown alleges she clearly heard the PM's wife exclaim "Well, that's a lie."
The Labour Party reply that Cherie actually said "Can I get by?"
What more convincing miss-quotes could they have come up with?
A quick whip around the table suggests "I like his tie!," or perhaps, "There's something in my eye!" or maybe, spotting the journo listening, "Well, that's sly!"
One that's less likely "We'll let sleeping dogs lie."
Sun 24 Sept 10pm - Salter interrupted...
 Martin Salter in the lime light... well almost |
It takes a lot to stop the Reading MP Martin Salter in mid speech, but I'm afraid I must claim that honour today.
At a fringe meeting on prisoner reform he was building to the climax of his impassioned polemic, but our BBC cameraman was struggling to get pictures.
A projector had been left on from a previous video and it cast a strange blue light...
"Any chance we could get it switched off?" he hisses to me.
I pass the query on to a helpful young PR from the hosts. She tiptoes around the edge of the audience, who are transfixed by Mr Salter's oration, then hesitates at the audio visual console in the terribly modern Manchester Art Gallery.
Clearly she knows her technology though, and she presses the button.
What she, and I didn't realise is that the "projector off" button is connected to a vast moving wall behind the stage which now proceeds to slowly and noisily lower itself into the floor, rendering the continuation of the speech totally impossible.
To his credit Martin was very decent about it, and quickly regained his composure.
But for political rivals it's a tip worth remembering - one of the very few ways to cut off Salter in his prime.
Watch our extended interviews from the conference here...
Disclaimer: The BBC may edit your comments and cannot guarantee that all emails will be published.
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Unedited interview with the Southampton MP John Denham...
