Co-operatives UK also took responsibility for organising the Co-operative Congress, and the annual meetings were the centre of the national Movement: most major changes in the movement came out of the Co-operative Congresses, such as the abandoning of political neutrality and the formation of the Co-operative Party (1917 Congress), the formalisation of ties to the Labour Party (1927 Congress) or the founding of the Independent Co-operative Commission chaired by Hugh Gaitskell (1955 Congress). The Congress has carried on to the modern day as a two-day event, with the only break being in 1944 when war conditions meant it was impossible for delegates to travel.