I’m leaving on a stream train!!

I do not know how some of you will cope without my blogging for six weeks on the political events of the world, as I am off on a little expedition. I am going to Beijing.

However, I have decided to take David Cameron’s Green Conservatism to a new a level, I am going by train (although I am flying back!!). So yesterday I boarded a train at Derby, and stayed overnight in London. Over the next six weeks, I will visit incredible cities such as Paris, Brussels, Warsaw, Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Barnal (gateway to Altai Mountains were we do a seven day trek on horseback and river rafting), Irkutsk, Ulbaanbatar (Mongolia) and finally finishing up in Beijing!! It should be a fantastic trip which I am greatly looking forward to you.

 My friend, Ian who I am travelling with will be keeping a very entertaining blog at http://www.leadersofthefreeworld.blogspot.com/ (which is also blogrolled on the right hand side) it is a blog which often takes a slanted and humorous look at the world around us. I hope at some point you get chance to take read.

 I will see you all soon!

Gisela Stuart MP: How can we trust Brown???

Gislea Stuart MP for Edgbaston has bbeen highly critical of Gordon Brown not holding a referendum on the EU treaty as I posted about earlier this week.

 She has written for the Daily Telegraph here on the matter.

If you cannot trust him Gisela, how are we expected too??

The end of PragueTory

     

Strange I thought. PragueTory is pulling out of the Conservative blogosphere. I remember the man himself telling me that he was depending on the blog to support his lavish lifestyle in Prague. Not anymore it seems, and sadly so.

When Conservative Future set this blog up in September last year, back when we registered about 100 hits, PragueTory offered strong support and encouragement, and with it came extra hits.

43,700 hits later BUCF would like to thank Dominic for his support. Like Dominic, last year’s CF committee agreed that it was important for us to have a combined website and blog to market the CF branch more widely. As a result, I think it’s fair to say that Birmingham University CF is amongst the most publicised CF in the country. It is a tribute too to Dominic, who helped us during the early stages and continues to visit.

So, I should link to PragueTory for the last time.

BROWN: The Hypocrite

 

 David Cameron made a point in his final PMQs of the year by questioning Brown over the EU Constitution/Treaty. As Cameron said, the Irish PM said the treaty was 90% the same as the constitution which was rejected by the people of France and Holland, and the Spanish premier even said it was 98% the same. However, Brown now says we won’t have a vote on it despite in their manifesto saying we will hold a referendum on EU constitutional treaty. All that has changed is the name, but now he says we don’t need a referendum on it. This is despite the fact he says we are willing to trust the people and listen to them. This is all just New New Labour spin, he can get away with it now in his honeymoon period, but soon he will become massively unstuck, if he says he wants to listen to the people, he cannot just simply treat them like fools!!

 Furthermore, we had an incredible statement from Gisela Stuart the local MP for Edgbaston (where our PPC Deidre Alden is fighting!). She is a pro Europe MP, having been born in Germany, she says that she helped draft the original constitution and that the treaty is virtually the same document!! She has also said that she believes Labour should stick to their manifesto, it is pleasant to see that not all Labour MPs are still spinning!

She is Pro European, and she is not scared to let the people have their say, what on earth is Gordon afraid of?

I would be particularly interested to know what the Labour Students at Birmingham Uni think of their local MPs comments? I wonder if any of them will come out with a view of their own?? 

 courtesy of TheoSpark

EU treaty

The EU constitution/treaty whatever you want to call it, apparently is not avaiable to MPs in English, only in French, this is meant to be debated in the Autumn and the MPs cannot even get chance to read it, or unless they read it in French, I am sure Mr. Winterton will be thrilled!!

Boris for London

Here is a fantastic article by Harry Phibbs indicating what Boris needs to do on his campaign. I think if you have the time it is well worth a read here.

What Thatcher would do…

     

If Margaret Thatcher was born in the 1970s she’d probably be called Claire, and would now be a moderniser.

She would be portrayed as a hard working mother of two, juggling kids and a career. Dennis would be put in yellow washing-up gloves and filmed doing the recycling. The new Tory leader would stage mind-mapping sessions in her stylish Notting Hill kitchen/dinning room, with toys scattered across the floor.

Being the sharp political operator she is, Claire Thatcher would realise that only a clean break from the past is enough. Tax, Europe, Immigration, crime and the family, would be no-go areas. She would resist the Tory old-guard who demanded any retreat to the comfort zone.

Claire Thatcher would be touring schools talking to teachers, and visiting hospitals. The focus would be on work-life balance, and on climate change and global poverty. She might even have changed the party logo.

Eighteen months ahead she would analyse the polls for approval, and she would get it; a consistent lead in all the major polls conducted since her election, mainly due to higher ratings on soft issues such as schools and hospitals. The last time the party polled this high for this long was in the late 1980s.

She might have neglected to mention grammer schools, worried that it might provoke an internal dispute and remind people of the old Tory party.

Her response to Ian Duncan Smith’s social policy report might have deliberately confronted the group’s argument that family breakdown is responsible for our fractured society. Using the available evidence, she might have made a strong case that it is poverty in specific areas that needs to be challenged, perhaps making use of some of the group’s education proposals.

By sticking to her agenda, and not wobbling under right-wing pressure, she might not have suffered much from a Brown bounce.

Her speech to conference in October 2007 would be a critical moment, when she would tell delegates that she “is not for turning”, and when she would emerge as the Prime Minister she would become.

$100 Laptop

A certain lecturer this term, completely ridiclued the $100 laptop, always keen to paint herself as a leftie, this striked me as rather odd at the time, surely she should want to help the worlds poorest people. In my opinion at the time she was doing it for cheap laughs from the students. She went onto claim that it would never work.

Well it seems as though, she will be proved wrong as the BBC is reporting on its story here.

 I truly believe that we should be doing anything to help the third world catch up. I realise their are many enourmous challenges facing the third world a side from not having laptops. Such as lack of the basics like food and water.

 However, bringing basic form of technolgy, which can has the ability to be powered by foot pump or solar panel, I believe has great potential to improve the education of the children out there. The devel

By election results

Ok, the blogosphere is going to over analyse this to unbelievable proportions today. I have just made this comment on ConservativeHome.com and this is all I will say on the matter:

Labour seats of over 11′000 and 18′000, majorities cut in half and by two thirds. We came third which I can see why people think is disappointing.

But how people can be questioning Cameron’s leadership I find utterly ludicrous, he has been ahead in the polls for 18 months, only just slipping behind to Brown (who will have been planning his first hundred days when Cameron was still at Uni!!)

A lot of the commenters [on ConservativeHome.com] seem great at casting their mind to Thatcher and further backwards!

Can they just think back to May in the local elections (which or unless I am not mistaken no-one has mentioned!) when we obtained 41% of the vote compared to Labour 26%. In addition we obtained over 900 councillors, this is when a wide range of the country were voting.

Cameron is working, anyone who wants to revert back to the old traditional policies should perhaps think back to before Cameron. They might have liked the policies but since 1997, no-one could even be bothered to listen to us.

Road Rage

Firstly I would like to say that I’m 20 years old, I have had my license since I was 17 and not once been involved in a collision, or acquired any penalty points. I also have many friends in the same position as me.

Realistically, the proposed changes involving the restricting of passing tests before the age of 18 is a good idea, and should hopefully weed out those confident 17 year old drivers who manage by luck to pass within a short time of becoming 17 and drive recklessly resulting in accidents and even deaths.

However, Transport committee chairman Gwyneth Dunwoody, Labour MP for Crewe and Nantwich has gone too far in her proposals for restricting passenger ages for new drivers. I live in Crewe myself, and firmly believe these changes are motivated by the hazardous Middlewich Road passing through Crewe. In the past year, the road has been the scene of a number of vehicle collisions, many at night resulting in fatalities. In response, the road has been subject to extra policing, speed changes, extra road markings and there are currently calls for speed cameras to be installed. Although locals in the area would welcome such a ‘radical change’, Dunwoody risks alienating the young population of the area and indeed the whole country in what could only be proposed as a right wing response to a problem and even discriminative against age. You can’t categorize every 17 year old in the country and claim to be acting fair, Dunwoody is just looking for the easiest and harshest way out of a problem haunting her own constituency, potentially to meet her own political means in a forthcoming election. It would be much more beneficial to implement more police patrols at night in accident and speeding black spots, and introduce much tougher penalties for younger drivers caught breaking road laws.

NB: Written by Richard Kelly, a good tory friend of mine… Ryan Castle.

National CF Elections called for November

This came out at the start of the week in the CF bulletin via email. However, there is no mention on the official website or on CFDiary on ConservativeHome.

 This is I presume due to the Chairman and National Management Executive beavering away in Ealing and Southall (as I know they have been for the last three weeks), I will be heading off for one final push tonight!

 There has been in recent weeks, much praise and criticism flying around about CF, at some point on this blog over the coming months in the run up to the election, it will be assessed what is good about CF and what needs to be improved. What the CF NME can be proud of, and what still requires work.

 The potential for CF as Justine Greening MP described it is ‘enourmous and we have only just begun to scratch the surface’.  I could not agree with this sentiment more, it is the biggest youth organisation in the country. The next election is going to be very close, we need to be able to make use of everyone and everything at our disposal, CF can be a big part of this in helping us move closer towards a Conservative Government.

Decline and fall

George Galloway has received an official bollocking from the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner and the Commons standards and privileges committee this week. The current committee was set up to replace the Committee of Privileges and is there to ensure MP’s actions are all above board and proper, and that British politics doesn’t descend into those of a banana republic (peerage/knighthood flogging aside). Though talking of improper bahaviour, recent speculation that Brown might call a snap election might set a new record for un-Parliamentary action. Despite Labour having less money than Conrad Black’s accountant at the moment, rumblings in the Brown camp have led some in the media to infer that an election is imminent.   

The British political system is widely regarded as one of the most uncorrupt in the world; up until the last decade MP’s would resign over extra marital affairs even though they had done no wrong in an official capacity. The key thing here is that MP’s accepted that as a member of the U.K. Parliament there are certain standards one must adhere too. Lose it and we may as well call ourselves French. To call an election based on favourable polls two years early is actually a pretty grubby affront to the best ideals of democracy and openness. The New Labour project wasn’t Blair’s alone, Brown was there at the birth and has been present at every twist and turn over the past decade. By pulling of a public relations coup that would leave Campbell weeping (again) Brown has managed to convince the British public that he’s somehow different from Blair. The new PM has learnt enough from his predecessor to know that while that remarkable myth is still an effective smokescreen he must strike when the irons hot. Though the PM can request the dissolution of Parliament at any time to do so simply in the raw pursuit of power is outright arrogance. However this course does expose a fundamental weakness in Brown’s Labour. Their actions would essentially be showing us that they’re clearly gob-smacked they actually have a lead as generous as the one the polls have given them and are not wholly confident they will get them again.  

Brown knows the potency of the recent events and comments that have led to this snap election fever. Whether he’s doing it to divert the recent media attention away from Cameron or is sincerely seeking an early election as a real possibility remains to be seen. The British public will forgive a lot of things, but in the long run it won’t like being taken for a mug. (Apologies to any French readers)

Back in the USSR?

 

British and Russian relations are at their lowest ebb since the end of the Cold War. Yesterday Britain expelled 4 Russian diplomats over the continuing row regarding the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi whom the British want tried for the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. This expulsion is both neccessary and justified in my opinion. As the Prime Minister rightly said “When a murder takes place, when a number of innocent civilians were put at risk … when an independent prosecuting authority makes it absolutely clear what is in the interest of justice and there is no forthcoming co-operation, then action has to be taken.” Vladimir Putin quite frankly doesn’t have a moral leg to stand on. He is simply playing politics and hiding behind the Russian constitution as he fears that a trial in Britain would reveal the true events surrounding the death of Alexander Litvinenko and substantiate the allegations surrounding the involvement of Vladimir Putin and the Russian Government in his death. Thus Putin will never allow the extradition of Lugovoi. Well what should we expect from ex-KGB?

This is a battle of wills and it is at Gordon Browns peril to back down in the face of Russian defiance. This is his first major international test. He needs to keep up his tough talking and impose stricter diplomatic and economic consequences on Russia. Moscow last night called the British move “immoral” and “provocative”…well thats a joke! What could be more “immoral” than being actively involved in murder whilst at the same time endangering countless other individuals? And What could be more “provocative” than refusing to allow us to bring those responsible to justice? The fact of the matter is a British citizen was murdered, to add insult to injury he was murdered on British soil and his assailant(s) endangered the lives of other British and foreign nationals. Therefore Russia is ill adivsed to be playing the moral card. To step down now would fly in the face of the rule of law and discredit the British immensely on the international stage which frankly after the Iran hostage saga we can’t afford. In Britain we pride ourselves on our legal system, it is not as if we not asking the Russians to send him to Iran where he could face a hanging! We are not so barbaric in our punishments. Instead all we want is a fair trial in order to ascertain the events surrounding the death of a British citizen and to provide some closure on this dangerous dilomatic situation. However the answer to many questions could have serious implications for the Russian government. Thus I believe if the Russians will budge an inch I can see a token guesture of a trial in Russia which i’m sure, impartiality wise, will be on a par with that of Saddam Hussein.”

Dan O’Doherty is a member of Birmingham University Conservative Future, who declares himself as a Thatcherite, you can view Dan’s entertaining blog here. If you would like to write a guestblog as Dan has done, please email chair@bucf.org.

*** WORKING LIFE CONFERENCE CANCELLED ***

This weekend’s working life conference for CF members has been cancelled. Although none of the committee were attendning this event, I thought it was important to publicise, it was put on ConservativeHome last night.

 It seems a great shame because there were some fantastic speakers lined up.

Cameron risks divorce with centre-ground…

   

Governments since the 1950s have scratched their heads wondering why the divorce rate has continued to rise, and why couples can’t just do their duty “for the sake of the children”. So panicked by this disturbing trend that in the late 50s Parliament even considered banning divorce altogether. This didn’t happen, and left alone, the divorce rate continued to climb.

Why it did is anyone’s guess, though academics agree that a revolutionary shift in people’s attitudes towards marriage has and is taking place. Marriage is now more about emotional fulfillment and less about a duty to reproduce and nurture upright, decent offspring. And the consensus is that the chances of this going any other way than the way it’s going are highly unlikely.

To drive the point home, our generation is one of the most sexually and emotionally liberal generations ever, for who the concept of staying in a marriage for the sake of the children, putting our own happiness second, simply wont do. And this, as the Tory party’s Social Justice policy group sees it, is something that needs to change.

In an attempt to do just this the taskforce, led by Ian Duncan Smith, has proposed a transferable marriage tax break of £20 a week. Though in reality this will surely encourage marriage for the wrong reasons and only delay divorce.

The broader thrust of the group’s report is that society has broken down, and at the core of the rot is family breakdown. Apparently, broken families are the cause of poverty, which in turn is the cause of debilitating social afflictions such as addiction, personal debt, criminality, and educational under-achievement. However, this doesn’t quite square with the fact that Denmark has the same single-parent rate as the UK but the least child poverty in Europe?

So, it’s curious that Cameron should express support for marriage tax allowance. Even as a purely political tactic, it’s dangerously risky.

On the one hand, although it wont change the divorce rate, what it does do is put twenty quid in the back pockets of every married parent in the country, which still amounts to around 45% of the electorate. And it could well be that the only marriage it encourages is to the Conservative Party.

But, it could backfire. The nuclear family is one of the issues the public expect the Tories to talk about. It’s reminiscent of John Major’s Back To Basics agenda; a brilliant example of why politicians shouldn’t judge others. And worryingly the proposal has won the support of the Daily Mail, “At Last Mr Cameron Sounds Like A Tory”.

The danger for the Conservatives is that they allow themselves to be lured by the rewarding headlines of the Mail and the Express, while Gordon Brown pitches his tent on the centre-ground.

This was Ian Duncan Smith’s opportunity to advance a right-wing agenda by dressing it up in socially acceptable language, and spending the political capital David Cameron has worked hard to accumulate. Cameron evidently reasoned that the votes he might pick up are worth it. But it’s a risky strategy.

Ealing Southall Update

This morning five Ealing Southall labour councillors defected to the conservative party lending a lot of support to Tony Lit’s already strong campaign. Though we have a long way to go, a positive result would be the perfect way to trip Gordon up in one of his first tests.CF is holding an action day this Saturday (the 14th) and there is mid-week campaigning too.Below is the new campaign video -

For more information there is a facebook group or contact Patrick Sullivan or email Matthew Richardson at Ealing@matthewrichardson.com. Volunteers can sign up here -

Backing Boris

I have been rather busy over the last week, so sorry the blog was not updated as much as usual!

I believe that Boris is definetely the man to take on Red Ken, he has a significant name recognition. Although it would be great fun to see Boris run, the main reason I believe he should do it because he can beat Ken.

 In addition, I also believe that this could be the making Boris, there is no doubt that under his exterior, an incredibley intelligent man is beneath. Anyone who calls Boris a bafoon, needs to have a long hard think about who the Baffoon really is.

 Boris is incredibley succesful, he was Head Boy at Eton College, achieved a first from Oxford and was President of the Union there as well. These are great achievments, everyone knows about his journalistic and political career, but this bedrock of Boris is exactly why he should run for Mayor.

It is an oppurtunity for him to be taken more seriously, I believe if Boris decides he wants to do it, which is a big if, then he has the potential to beat Ken, but also to be a fantastic figurehead for the City of London, and take us towards the showpiece of the Olympics in 2012.

Rose tinted or reality: policy on communities

First I must apologise for not blogging I have been on an orchestral tour in Frankfurt.

David Cameron has announced that he wants to mend out broken communities in an attempt to fight drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, absentee fathers and general disrespect. Sounds like a miracle cure how did we miss this one!

Remove my flippancy and I do agree with the idea. Being from a small rural town the idea of community survived Thatcher’s rejection and destruction of it. All the parents know each other through the school, we have had the same doctors since I can remember, people still attend church at least at the main festivals and the pubs are still as full.

This does mean then that children are kept a closer eye on, people are more likely to step in to counter bad behaviour, but this is a very different setting from our inner cities. I fear that this good idea could be lost in its impossibility to be introduced. How do you recreate communities?

In good Tory style DC has again stated his support for marriage, a good move, solid families are the bedrocks of communities. Labour recent introduction for rights for cohabitation couples undermines the institution. He has suggested a tax hike on alcohol to pay for better rehabilitation schemes; again I feel this to be a good move. Mr Cameron should not be timid in this policy however; I think he should go further.

There should be greater links between schools and charities, encouraging pupils to volunteer. This link may go some of the way to closing the huge generation gap we have in this country especially in cities where children only mingle wit other youngsters.

There should be a promotion of local sports, and encouragement on schemes like the scouts guides and duke of Edinburgh. Local groups should be given the money to tackle crime by creating better and more efficient community watches and other local groups. The police should support this by unequivocally supporting citizen activity n the prevention of crime rather than allowing criminals to sure householders.

This may sound like a 50s idyll when everyone knew everyone, but these efforts are part of a holistic approach to our social problems. Urban populations are fluid in some areas where community is impossible, however there are many areas where this working together would improve things.

I congratulate DC on his move and encourage him to take it further and empower good people to reclaim many of our urban and semi urban environments.

What attacks?

        

Last week’s bomb attacks were unsuccessful. The two car bombs in London failed, and the attempt to blow-up Glasgow airport terminal was wrong from the conception up.

If this poor attempt to bring down the West is anything to go by, I don’t think we have much to worry about.

Not that you’re led to think this by The Sun, or The Mirror, or The Express. According to The Sun, terrorists are planning to “destroy the City of London…with a nuclear dirty bomb”, and it’s all the fault of the Human Rights Act. The Mirror went with “Docs of War”, arguing for the diversion of “innocent until proven guilty”. And The Express shrieked, “Terror Cells in the NHS”.

The tabloids went much further than reporting the facts, but revelled in spreading fear and provoking a reaction that at worst, makes what should be a failed terror attack successful. Simon Jenkins was right when he said that the public realm in Britain is in rampant retreat before terrorism.

Nonetheless, despite unhelpful reporting by the gutter press, the public seems unmoved by last week’s events.

Politicians too have acted proportionally, at least by the media’s standards.

Inversely, one of Gordon Brown’s weaknesses worked to his advantage. Unlike Tony Blair, who was an accomplished media performer, Brown is not, and it so happened that the public didn’t want a melodramatic performance, but a calm and measured response. Brown easily stepped up to a low plate.

So too did his Home Secretary, Jackie Smith, whose response Simon Hoggart likened to, “a Women’s Institute secretary explaining the arrangements for the summer fete in the event of rain.” And this is good.

The danger for the terrorists is that their attacks become normal, and in the case of Glasgow, almost silly.

The two car bombs in London could have exploded, and the Glasgow jeep could have been carrying a nuclear warhead. But they didn’t, and it wasn’t. The security services and the police clearly had events in hand, and the bombers clearly aren’t very good.

Why are we recruiting from Jordan, Iran and Syria?

As we have all seen the terrorists all had links with the NHS some indeed were Doctors.

 However, our Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has made the point today that this actually breaks the NHS own code of practice,

“It is important to note that the Department of Health’s Code of Practice states that Iran, Iraq and Jordan are among the countries from where the UK has agreed not to recruit health professionals. I am sure Ministers will wish to explain how this Code of Practice is applied, how it relates to the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme, and what process of checking is undertaken.”

This for me truly is shocking, it is simply breaking the rules. I am looking forward to Alan Johnson’s response, he is brought in for his PR skills, well this will certainly be a strong test.

This coupled with the computer crisis which is going to result in thousands of young British Doctor’s not getting jobs, really does mean that the NHS is really struggling. If Brown thinks that the main problem with the NHS is its public perception, I really think he needs to think again.

Ealing Southall by-election

 

Every day campaigning is taking place in Ealing, please if you get the oppurtunity go down and lend a hand.

 There is no doubt it will take a big performance to win, but it would be the ideal way to stop Brown in his tracks. The by election is just two weeks away.

There has often been criticism of the way Conservatives have handled by elections by not being organised or professional enough. However, this time we have got a candidate, Tony Lit, a strong local man in place before the other parties.

 CF are holding action days in Ealing this Saturday (7th) and the following Saturday (14th). There is also mid week campaigning taking place on the Wednesdays.

 Please go and lend a hand if you possibly can do.

 It is in zone3 on the London Tube, so it is not too difficult to get to once you get to London!

For more information there is a facebook group, or feel free to contact Patrick Sullivan or email Matthew Richardson at   Ealing@MatthewRichardson.com

Superb Quote

I have just come across this quote by our new Shadow Transport Secretery, Theresa Villiers, which I thought I would share with you, it was in a debate in January in the Commons.

 ”17 per cent. of people—fewer than one in five—believe that official statistics are produced without political interference.”

How can we be sure that the other 83% are likely to believe that figure then?

At some point this afternoon as well, an analysis of Cameron’s reshuffle will also be done.

The real Conservative Way Forward…

     

Some people just don’t give up. Edward Leigh, the Chairman of the Tombstone Group of Tory MPs, is one of these people.

His policies are extraordinary for their kamikaze-like potential. There is no evidence of any political judgement at all. It’s as though he comes up with an idea and completely ignores the political parameters.

His latest piece of advice is a return to traditional Conservative polices such as “immigration, tax, deregulation, and defence.”

However, the most cursory analysis of public opinion will tell you that this advice is about as misleading as advice gets. There is no political mileage left for the Tories in these issues.

For example, the polls show that people think the Conservatives are less likely to increase tax than Labour, and more likely to reduce it. They also show people think the Conservatives are less likely to increase immigration than Labour, and more likely to reduce it. And on Europe people think that the Conservatives are more likely to protect Britain’s interests than Labour. So surely, enough said.

Issues that people feel the Tories have neglected in the past, such as Health and Education, are now where the most political capital can be made. It is on these issues that Cameron had to focus and gain trust.

Eighteen months on, polls show that the public think the Conservatives are more likely to improve schools than Labour, and more likely to improve the NHS. This is a spectacular turnaround, and has pushed overall Conservative opinion ratings towards the forty mark.

Admittedly the party is suffering from a Brown bounce of late, but I’d be willing to bet that the figures will settle back within the next year.

Nonetheless, this is a critical period for Cameron. His challenge is to hold course and resist calls to return to comfort zone issues.