Simon Chapman: One of the Conservative Party's best-kept secrets

There are many well-kept secrets at Westminster, most of them concealed for less than laudable reasons. The work of the Conservative Party’s International Office has been described to me several times this week as “the Party’s best-kept secret”.

It shouldn’t be – because the work it does is entirely for the good. Nobody tries to keep it secret (conspiracy enthusiasts should look elsewhere): it’s just that in today’s publicity-ravenous political environment, if you don’t talk much about what you do, it tends to become a secret by default.

So, whilst huge attention has rightly been paid to John McCain’s platform appearance, rather less notice has been given to the centre-right politicians from 29 nations about the world who have come to Bournemouth this week, thanks to the International Office.

The International Office is funded through the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, which was founded by the last Conservative government in 1994. The Foundation’s driving objective is to build democratic capacity in emerging nations throughout the world.

It does this by channelling funds to all three main political parties to enable them to support and encourage sister organisations in countries where people are trying to birth democracy into life.

In the past the International Office has worked in Africa and Eastern Europe, working with parties in places like Poland, Slovenia, Serbia, Mozambique Uganda and Tanzania. Ghana has been a notable success story, with a centre-right party now forming the government.

Gary Streeter was appointed to chair the International Office by David Cameron. Under his guidance its work is now shifting focus to concentrate more on nations east of Europe stretching into the caucuses. Over the next five to ten years, he hopes to extend activities further into central Asia.

Ukraine and Belarus are high on his current list, and I met him fresh from a meeting with Belarus opposistion parties, who are waiting for the president Alexander Lukashenko, to call the next elections.

The International Office provides more than moral support. It funds training, equipment and advice. However it does not seek to re-create the Westminster model of democracy, insisting that the strategy to build democratic institutions be set by the organisations it is helping.

The politicians gathered in Bournemouth are here to learn from us - they are interested in campaign techniques, policy debates, ideas, in seeing democracy in action – and to network. Here, in safety, they can meet colleagues from about the world who face the same barriers to democracy and reform that they do – physical intimidation, imprisonment, corruption, and abuse of power being amongst them –share experiences, and build mutual support.

There is a global interest in this: building mature democracies in unstable regions benefits everyone’s security. Gary Streeter acknowledges that this is a slow and difficult business, but his passion for it is unmistakable.

He is planning to bring the International Office’s activities further into the light, and will be producing a DVD for next year’s party conference. He cites Francis Maude as a great encouragement. Francis: here’s to that DVD being a highlight of the conference’s main agenda next year.

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