Did anyone see Michael Wills, the constitutional affairs minister, at Conference?  Or hear much from his boss, Justice Secretary Jack Straw?  Or hear anything at all about the Ministry of Justice's flagship Governance of Britain programme?

Compared to the past few  years, this was a very quiet Conference in terms of addressing democratic or constitutional reforms, or even initiatives to re-engage voters in the political process.  Perhaps the only new thing announced was bringing the Act of Succession into the modern era - a worthy but hardly pressing change that will directly affect very few people.

Yes, the credit crunch and financial turmoil in the City and Wall Street are pressing challenges that need to be priorities at the moment.  But that doesn't preclude us from thinking about and debating other matters that we'll need to have policy on now, and for our manifesto.  What are we saying about bringing our democracy into the 21st century and making the way we do politics reflect the more diverse, pluralist and inclusive society we now live in? 

For those who say this is not a bread-and-butter issue, I say it should be for us as a party.  It is about examining who has power and makes the decisions that affect us all.  And it is about restoring trust in the State and in collective action. 

Those are some of the high-minded reasons.  There may be other more partisan reasons that we can think of as well why we need to have more of a message to say to voters come the next election.