Midlands CF hustings

What: Midlands CF Hustings
When: Saturday 16th February for a 2:30 start
Where: Conservative Office, King Edward Court, King Edward Street, Nottingham
Who: All candidates for Chairman and NME will be invited - all CF members are welcome
Why: To give Midlands CF members a chance to hear from the candidates!

RSVP: Edward Keene ([email protected]) & Lydia Smith (lydia-rutlandandmelton@hotmail.co.uk)
Campaigning before & afterwards - TBC

Update Feb 11th:

Change of time: 5pm for 5:30 start Monday 18th February, 7.30pm for an 8pm start
Speaker: Anna Soubry, PPC for Broxtowe
Contact number for event: 07804 506 984
Parking Available on site & more nearby
See the Facebook event page

CF Hustings 2008

There are a couple of hustings planned in Wandsworth and Bristol. There was one in Manchester last time, how about GMCF doing their bit for northern representation this time?

Much more importantly though - the Wandsworth one will be filmed and uploaded to YouTube. Can somebody film the Bristol hustings and get it online? I'm afraid I have other commitments for both dates.

At the last election Andrew Young was banned from filming and putting a video online, presumably due to outdated fears about what would be filmed. Alcohol was banned at the London one last time too. CF was/is clearly held in high esteem by its elders and betters! How ridiculous. It would make the elections much more meaningful for most CF members if they could see what the candidates were actually like.

Hustings details....

Bristol hustings hosted by John Moorcraft

Date: Sunday 27th January

Organisation: Bristol & Gloucestershire CF

Location: Bristol Conservatives, 5 Westfield Park, Redland, Bristol, BS6 6LT

Timings: 2pm - 5pm

Admission: Email Nick Webb for info

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Tooting campaign day folllowed by election hustings chaired by Kulveer Ranger

Date: Saturday 2nd February

Organisation: Wandsworth CF branches

Location: Morning - Meet at Tooting Broadway Station. Lunch & Drinks & Hustings are at the Selkirk Pub, Selkirk Road

Timings:

Campaigning                                               10.30 to 12.30
Lunch                                                         12:30 to 2:00
Campaigning                                                2:00 to 4:30                  
Drinks                                                         4:30 to 5:30
NME & London Area Hustings:                      5:30 to 6:30
Drinks                                                         6:30 to 7:30
Chairman Hustings                                       7:30 to 8:30

Details: Introductory speech about CF from Mark Clarke. Free bar for those who attended the campaigning.
All NME and London Area Chairman candidates will get a 2 minute speech, Chairman candidates a 5 minute speech. Each followed by questions to all candidates.

Admission: RSVP to Mark Clarke

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Update 7pm Jan 21st: 

CCHQ-organised hustings in Manchester and London....

London Event – Friday 8th February 2008 starting at 7.30pm CCHQ, 30 Millbank, London, SW1P 4DP
 
Manchester Event – Friday 15th February 2008 starting at 7.30pm Kro Bar, 325 Oxford Road, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, M13 9PG. www.kro.co.uk Cash bar available.
 
All speakers and guests must register with CCHQ, and be a valid Conservative Future Member. CCHQ reserves the right to refuse entry. To register please contact Amanda Cowan [email protected] stating which event you wish to attend and whether you are attending as a candidate or as guest. Places are limited at both venues.

Rest assre, anyone who has the audacity to attempt to record the hustings in order to make them accessible to all CF members will be kicked out.

For some reason journalist Boni Jones from Women's Parliamentary Radio will be chairing the two hustings. Boni is an outspoken advocate of positive discrimination in parliamentary selections in order to get to the point where Parliament is "gender-balanced" and therefore more "civilised". I'm sure she will be conscious of the neutrality required of hustings chairmen...

CF Christmas Party

From CF website:

The annual Conservative Future Christmas Party has been announced for Monday 10th December at the new Revolution bar in the City of London.

140-144 Leadenhall Street,
London,
EC3V 4PT - MAP

Start: 6.30pm

A cash bar will operate but the drinks are reasonably priced, we’ve checked!

Please note the details in your diary...

If you wish to attend the Annual Conservative Future Christmas Party you will need to register your details with Karen Allen – NME Events Officer on [email protected]

Scottish CF conference

Message from Harry Cole:

Conference Season isn't over yet...

Join Conservative Future Scotland at Glasgow University Union on November 24th for their annual conference. Following the success of last year this time its going to be bigger and better.

Please feel free to invite friends along as it should be a very exciting and interesting day!

Tickets Prices:

Conference Only - £5
Conference & Dinner - £32.50

Conference Programme:

1030 - Delegates arrive, Registration, Pre Conference Tea & Coffee

1100 - Welcome by President and Chairman of CFS

1110 - Murdo Fraser MSP Deputy Leader of Scottish Conservatives

1130 - Delegate Speeches

1210 - Just a Minute

1240 - Justine Greening MP

1300 - Break for Lunch

1400 - Anastasia Beaumont - Bott, Director and Co - Founder of L.G.B.Tories

1415 - Tom Miers, Director of the Policy Institute

1430 - John Loughton MSYP, Chairman of the Scottish Youth Parliament

1445 - Question Time Session

1515 - Balloon Debate

1540 - Main Speaker TBC

1600 - Conference Photo and Conference Close

1930 - Post Conference Dinner / GUCUA St. Andrews Day Dinner, Annabel Goldie MSP Leader of Scottish Conservative Party

For tickets or more information please email [email protected]

Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Upcoming events

A CF bulletin has been sent out today, you can now view it as a webpage.

It includes notice of a social action project, drinks reception and joint event with the Girl Guides at party conference. Other CF events include a mid-week trip to Brussels with Dan Hannan MEP in November and a discussion with Andrew Mitchell MP in Birmingham. 

Also, the YBF is running a workshop on television technique this Friday, click here for more details. I saw the first one in action and know it's worth giving up a day of your time for.

Urgent: Working Life Conference cancelled

Next weekend's conference has been cancelled today. The website for it appears to be down so spread the word to anyone who you know had booked into it!

It's not clear why this has happened yet but it's a real shame as it was the only national conference that had been arranged this year and a decent set of speakers had been lined up. I was down to do a talk with a poor guy who was flying in from the Czech Republic!

Shane Greer: Get campaign-savvy

On the 20th July the Young Britons’ Foundation is running its first Campaign Management Workshop of 2007.  This one-day (9.30am – 5.00pm) specialist training programme will enable you to organise, lead and benefit from a successful political campaign.   

The Young Britons' Foundation Campaign Management Workshop will cover:

• The real nature of politics and elections
• Developing a campaign plan and building your organisation
• Opposition research
• Direct mail, personal solicitation and fundraising events
• Campaign websites, blogs and internet activism
• Ballot integrity and election law
• Handling negative information

As with all day-long training workshops the cost is a mere £35.  If you are interested in attending the Campaign Management Workshop email Mike Rouse at [email protected] or call on 0207 405 1818.  Places on the workshop are very limited and will fill up quickly for this workshop so be sure to get in touch ASAP. 

Click here for details for October's weekend training weekend.

Working Life conference

The website is now up and it's very impressive.

Speaking at the event (21st-22nd July) will be: Deirdre Alden, Charles Barwell, Nicola Blackwood, Douglas Carswell MP, Stephen Castle, Mark Clarke, Philip Davies MP, Roger Evans, Dominic Fisher, Kevin Foster, Jonathan Isaby, Esther McVey, Ian Oakley, Andrew Percy, Grant Shapps MP, James Wharton, Jeremy Wright MP.

Click here to download the application form

CF Working Life conference 21st-22nd July

The guests and schedule are being worked on but you can email [email protected] in the meantime with any questions. The hotel is at:

Radisson SAS Hotel, Holloway Circus
12 Holloway Circus
Birmingham
B1 1BT

Rees-Mogg speaks to Bath CF

Lord Rees-Mogg talked to Bath CF last night about foreign policy issues.

You can listen to his hour-long speech here. Kudos to Chris Palmer for recording it, even just getting the sound on your phone can open up an event to more people that can attend it.

The February News Bulletin from Conservative Future

Welcome to the February Bulletin.  In the bulletin this month is a comprehensive run down of the Marginal Seats events as well as details of the next Campaign day in Ribble South – can we beat the 55 people we saw in Hammersmith?  As well as details of up coming events there is a reminder of the CF consultation that is now on going.  While the Bulletin is limited in its format due to the fact it needs to be able to be opened by all email systems but if you would like to be involved in formatting this and developing the newsletter please get in touch. The current consultation will also inform the future shape of the Bulletin – so watch this space.  Finally remember the CF bulletin reaches THOUSANDS of our members. What better way to advertise your events? Contact: christian.walker@conservativefuture.com

In this edition:

* Spring Forum
* Marginal Seat Update
* Campaign Day – 3 March
* CF Consultation
* Calling Area Chairman
* Next Bulletin
* Events

Continue reading "The February News Bulletin from Conservative Future" »

Marginal seats events

Update from Claire Palmer, CF Deputy Chairman

At the recent CF Executive meeting we have decided to add two more marginal seats for National CF to help set up branches: Ribble South and Great Yarmouth. New Executive member, James Dinsdale will be working with me to help progress these branches for PPCs Lorraine Fulbrook and Brandon Lewis.

Since my last Marginal Seats update, we have had events in Finchley, Solihull, Portsmouth and Loughborough. All had new members that hadn't been involved in the Party before, and most saw existing unorganised members get together and meet for the first time.

If you know anyone in any of our marginal seats please do let them know about upcoming events, and encourage them to come along and get involved. Some dates for the diary, for the next set of events:

Continue reading "Marginal seats events" »

January events of interest...

A fair few relevant events happening over the next couple of weeks, I think I've included most of them. Notable inclusions are an event by the Adam Smith Institute's excellent Next Generation, a group which:

"serves as a meeting point for the next generation of leaders in business, academe, the professions, journalism and public policy."

...and a life coaching event at CCHQ aimed at broadening appeal amongst young professionals.

Continue reading "January events of interest..." »

Portsmouth n Solihull

A reminder of two events in impending marginal seats events. Both attended by their respective PPCs and the latter by exec member Craig Cox who has organised them:

• One tonight in Portsmouth, starting at 8pm, at the 'Honest Politician' pub, in Elm Grove, Southsea.  The PPC Penny Mordaunt is coming back from Thailand early for this launch event.
• The other tomorrow in Solihull attended by PPC Maggie Throup, at 'The Townhouse', on Warwick Road - it's 5 minutes walk from the train station and also starts at 8pm.

Expensive event offenders

Partly because the money usually goes to a good cause (the Party, a charity or conservative organisation), and partly because most Conservative Party members are at the peak of their careers or retired from them... some Conservative/conservative events completely price young people out.

I don't think I need to explain why it is important that informative/networking/fun events are accessible to the incoming generation of Conservatives.

Should we petition for CF/student discounts at all expensive events?

I've started making a point of mentioning there is no apparent CF discount for certain events on ConHome's events list.

One problem with the all-encompassing under-30s catchment of CF though, is that some members are still on pocket money, others are indebted students, and still others are well-paid twenty something professionals. Although we need more young pro's, perhaps they should still pay more than students.

I'm not just talking official Conservative Party events but those held by organisations such as Conservative Way Forward and Women2Win (who have both subsidised events in the past).

Which organisations do you think need nudging on this, and which deserve praise?

Upcoming marginal seat events

From Craig Cox, who is now fulfilling his commitment to continue his blog

We now have dates, times, and venues for our next wave of events, and the remaining details for the events taking place in January. They are:

Pendle (PPC Andy Stephenson):
15.3.07 @ 8pm - The Sparrow Hawk Pub (same venue as previously)

Solihull (PPC Maggie Throup):
9.1.07 @ 8pm -  "The Townhouse", Warwick Road
12.3.07 @ 8pm - "The Townhouse", Warwick Road

Portsmouth (PPC Penny Mourdaunt): 
8.1.07 @ 8pm - "The Honest Politician" (Yes, it's a pub), Elm Grove, Southsea   
28.3.07 @ 8pm ' "The Honest Politician", Elm Grove, Southsea

Wirral West (PPC Esther McVey):
6.2.07 @ 8pm - "Koi", The Wirral
21.3.07 @ 8pm - Conservative Club, 24 Mells Drive, Wirral

Continue reading "Upcoming marginal seat events" »

Awards ceremony: CF Diary offer

At 6pm until 7.30pm on Monday 13th November - in central London - ConservativeHome.com will host the first Conservative Movement Awards ceremony to recognise individuals and groups that are advancing small 'c' conservative ideas. George Osborne will be speaking, and Tim and I will be answering questions at the end about ConservativeHome.

For more details about the nominations, click here.

It costs £10 to reserve your place but the first ten CF members to email us about it can get free entrance. Hope to see you there!

Training for CF women - Saturday 25th November

Mark Clarke, CF Chairman, announces the first ever CF women’s training conference

Why are we having this training?

47% of CF members are women. But last year only around 10% of branch chairmen and area chairmen were women. This is despite the fact that women tend to do well in CF elections. I promised in my manifesto action to help fix this. As the first of these measures we are inviting women in CF to attend a training day in London. We hope that this day will inspire CF women to get more involved with the Party, network them with people in the Party and equip them with the tools to succeed. I have a background in fixing diversity problems in major companies through my work at Procter and Gamble and at the Boston Consulting Group and am personally committed to fixing this in CF.

Continue reading "Training for CF women - Saturday 25th November" »