Party conference season 2011: special report

Nick Clegg kicks off the Lib Dem conference in Birmingham with a crowd pleasing vow to block any attempts to scrap the 50p tax rate, and the revelation of plans to legalise same-sex marriage.

Criticised by many in the Labour party for his “Blue Labour” ideas, Lord Maurice Glasman is a controversial figure. But how then has he become one of Ed Miliband’s closest advisers?

Many see Education Secretary Michael Gove as a traditionalist. Why then has he got a picture of Lenin in his office? And where next for the Conservative dream?

Award-winning Political Editor Gary Gibbon will host long-form interviews with leading figures from each party at the forthcoming conferences.

What would Liberal Democrat president Tim Farron do if he became party leader? Would he move the Lib Dems towards Labour with a return to “tax and spend”? Join Gary Gibbon to find out.

A Conservative backbencher’s attempt to prevent abortion providers offering counselling services to women seeking terminations is defeated in the Commons.

Despite threats of a LibDem rebellion, the government’s controversial bill to reform the NHS has cleared the House of Commons by a majority of 65.

Former chancellor Alistair Darling’s memoirs reveal a brutal regime at No.10 under Gordon Brown, whose failure to acknowledge the scale of the economic crisis undermined Labour’s economic policy.