| Campaigner Rose Gentle has sought to attend the Caird Hall event — to be addressed by Tony Blair — as an observer, but was told by a party official this morning she would not be given accreditation.
She turned up with a fellow campaigner at the hotel where visitors are accredited to seek access to the Dundee conference,
“We said we are applying to get into the Labour conference,” she said.
“But they said our campaign was not an organised one and we could not get in.
“I asked if we could speak to someone higher, and the person said no,” said Mrs Gentle, from Pollok, Glasgow.
Mrs Gentle branded the decision a “disgrace.”
“It’s disappointing, but I’m not surprised,” she told the Evening Telegraph. “ The thing is, they know me. I think it’s personal.”
Ms Gentle’s son Gordon was killed in a roadside explosion near Basra in June last year, while serving with the Royal Highland Fusiliers.
Since then, she has been an outspoken opponent of the war, and claims she has been told that Mr Blair considers her a “headache” as he seeks public approval of the country’s military presence in Iraq.
Continued Ms Gentle today, “What I really would have liked is a one-on-one meeting with Tony Blair.
“I want to speak to him about Gordon’s training — six months’ training is not enough for anybody to be going out there.
“He took all these boys out there just to help George Bush. They should never have been there and I want Mr Blair to get the rest of them home.”
Ms Gentle said she had not been given any explanation for the decision not to allow her to attend the conference.
A Labour spokesman said, “It was a very short conversation.
“One of our people was in the corridor welcoming people as they arrived.
“He asked if they were party members or if they had been invited.
“They said, ‘We are from families against the war’ and he said, ‘I’m afraid you won’t be accredited.’
“There was no discussion, and they left. I don’t think there was any difficulty or confrontation.”
Mrs Gentle said, “When I first phoned up for accreditation and said my name there was a silence, then the woman said she would get back to me,” she continued.
“The answer was no.
“But I think I should be allowed into the conference because everybody else is and I’m here representing military families.
“If anything was said about Iraq at the conference then I wanted to hear it. I wasn’t going to bellow and shout and make a scene because I know Tony Blair would like that.”
The angry campaigner said she would be going to the Caird Hall regardless to try to get her message across to delegates attending the conference.
Mr Blair’s visit to the city today was expected to be greeted with protests by numerous groups, among them Save the Scottish Regiments campaigners. |
