The Liberal Democrats Conference in Liverpool was a disaster

for the majority of the 1,500+ journalists who attended.

Hundreds and hundreds of the journalists who turned up in Liverpool, whether they were in the conference hall, the stunning exhibition, the many bars or even trying to sneak into the member only training were there to report on the great divide in the Party.

Unfortunately for them, it never existed and to be honest, I don't think it ever will in the way the media want.

One senior journalist said to me on Wednesday morning, "there have been some grumbles though".  As I then replied, how does a few grumbles equate to the masses of column inches that appeared throughout the week.

I think journalism is an art, but many now report their opinion rather than the news.

As I was at conference this year as the Exhibition Manager and running the VIP tours and lounge, I spoke to many if not all the exhibitors and the message was the same, if you read the newspapers you assumed you were at an entirely different conference.

One of the commercial exhibitors, who I won't name as they are at other Party conferences as well said that she was "appalled by the complete rubbish the papers were writing", especially on the alleged splits which just simply did not exist in the way you read about.

Overall, a great conference, in fact one of the busiest I have ever attended, certainly the one with the best atmosphere ever and to be honest the one I have been the busiest at, lots of working not a lot of socialising.