Unconventional and non-parliamentary political action has seen a substantial growth in Britain during the nine years Tony Blair has been prime minister. The poll-tax demonstrations at the tail-end of the Thatcher years showed the potential of a frustrated electorate. And events such as the fuel-tax protests, the pro-hunt Countryside Alliance march in London and the mass of anti-war demonstrations across Britain before the invasion of Iraq offered more than just a glimpse of what could mobilise the politically aggrieved.

Now, after a week in Manchester where debates on Britain’s nuclear deterrent, nuclear power and other key issues should have taken place, but didn’t, we perhaps begin to understand why disillusionment with governmental politics and a recourse to direct action is seen as necessary both inside the Labour Party and among the wider electorate.

We often hear politicians speaking of their disappointment that the young are switched off by politics, and that more and more people find party political issues a turn-off. And what does the party of government do about it? Go through the motions of a conference that skimmed over awkward debate as though it was none of the party’s business.

This lack of visible party democracy in Manchester last week is reason enough to believe that faith in direct action will continue. Nobody is suggesting Labour should return to the old days where unrepresentative union bosses and a minority of militants helped destroy party unity and confine Labour’s debates to itself rather than what lay outside the conference hall. But a choreographed convention, more showbusiness than political business, isn’t a worthy replacement for dissent.

So what are party conferences for these days? This week’s Tory conference in Bournemouth is likely to be equally stage-managed, The David Cameron Show more a top-of-the-bill pier act than a serious message from an aspiring prime minister. And where has Cameron taken lessons from? New Labour of course.

Without scrutiny of their policies, without debates at their conferences, angry and direct action is inevitable if all debate on uncomfortable policies is stifled for the party leader’s convenience. This proclaimed “unity” fools nobody when the debate on issues as crucial as nuclear power and nuclear weapons is asked to fade away until leaders and their unelected advisers deem it necessary to hand down decisions from on high.

If our parties simply want showbiz then the pretence should end: put the conference speeches on Saturday night TV, introduced by Cat Deeley or Graham Norton, and end the illusion that something meaningful is happening.

We may already be there. Labour are close to turning their “conference” into a heady convention with the party reduced to the role of cheerleader. Policy? Debate? Questioning? These will be consigned to Labour history unless the party as a whole begins to realise the value of a real debate, with real ideas and real challenges that do not have to be tied up with presentable ribbons to be valuable.

Without this change, there is a democratic hole in Labour’s political machine. Tony Blair made his party believe this hole was necessary to win elections. But the same hole may be the very reason they lose next time. Ignoring democratic principle usually comes with a high price. Labour, when they see the Cameron Show this week, should ask themselves if they are willing to pay that price.