This passport remains the property of Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and may be withdrawn at any time.

p. 2 of my UK Passport

This may seem a strange quotation with which to begin a blog post but it really is relevant. I have finally decided that I ought to register for the forthcoming Liberal Democrat Conference in September. I was prompted to do this by the news from Gareth Epps that he has not made it through the conference vetting.

Now, I have hit a snag in the process myself.

I have started to fill in the forms online. The next question poses me quite a dilemma.

Do you own a passport?

Well, I have a passport: but do I own it? I wonder what will happen if I click on the No.

Eh? What?

It is quite simple really,

1. I have checked in my passport and it states that it

remains the property of Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and may be withdrawn at any time.

2. I want to answer the questions truthfully.

Therefore what do I say?

If I check No, and the powers that be run a check they will find that I have a passport.

If I check Yes – then I am lying.

It seems that we cannot win.

Maybe I should go to conference and register in person?

And if I don’t get through, I’ll have  a nice trip in and around Birmingham.

Related articles

• I’ve registered to serve you, now over to Greater Manchester Police (libdemsni.wordpress.com)
• Federal Conference registration open – but do we really want to apply (libdemsni.wordpress.com)