Gazette

Andrew RT Davies is the new leader of the Welsh Conservatives

By Paul Goodman

The result was declared some two hours later than expected.  Is that related to the closeness of the result?

Mr Davies won 53% of the vote, defeating Nick Ramsay in a contest that had a 49% turnout.  He will head the Conservatives' 14-strong group in the Welsh Assembly.

The contest was called after the former group leader Nick Bourne lost his seat in May's assembly election.  Davies said:

"I'm a proud Welshman and a proud unionist and I feel bitterly disappointed when I look at the league tables on health, economic performance and education, and we see Wales propping those tables up, rather than leading from the top.  We will be inspiring the people of Wales to reach for those heights that I know our communities can go for."

David Cameron said:

“I want to congratulate Andrew on his election as the leader of our party in the Welsh Assembly. Under Labour, Wales has become the poorest part of the UK, its education system is failing a generation and now Labour are making cuts of £1billion to the NHS. We must now offer a strong Conservative voice for Wales and I look forward to working closely with Andrew to deliver this and realise our strong ambitions for Wales."

Davies also paid tribute to both Bourne and Ramsay.

> Read Andrew's article for ConservativeHome in which he explained his vision for the Welsh Conservatives.

Peter Cruddas appointed Co-Treasurer of the Conservative Party

By Jonathan Isaby
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It was announced yesterday - to coincide with the Conservative Summer Party which took place last night and of which his wife, Fiona, was chairman - that Peter Cruddas has been appointed as Conservative Party Co-Treasurer.

He will work alongside the Party Treasurer, Lord Fink.

The founder of internet securities dealer CMC Markets, he is a self-made man who is involved in a number of charities, including the Prince’s Trust, the Duke of Edinburgh Award and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

He also remains a Trustee of the Peter Cruddas Foundation, which he launched in 2005 to benefit disadvantaged and disengaged young people in British society. It has already donated £15 million to 60 organisations.

Additionally, Cruddas has recently served with distinction as Co-Treasurer of the No2AV Campaign.

Today's Daily Mail reports that as the son of a meat porter in the East End, he left school at fifteen, yet has gone on to become Britain's fifteenth richest man.

Lord Ashcroft to lead review of UK military bases on Cyprus

By Jonathan Isaby
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It has been announced by the Ministry of Defence this afternoon that Lord Ashcorft, the Conservative peer and majority proprietor of this website, has been appointed as lead advisor on a government review of military bases on Cyprus.

He will work alongside Conservative MP Patrick Mercer on the review, considering the future of the 3,000 UK personnel stationed across two bases, Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

They will report by the end of the year.

Lord Ashcroft has shown a particular interest in - and commitment to - the military over many decades, so there is no doubting he will take this role extremely seriously.

I offer him my personal congratulations on the appointment and wish him well as he goes about conducting the review.

Who is the youngest Conservative Councillor in the country (reprise)? Could it be Cllr Stuart Green of Breckland?

by Paul Goodman

We have had the following bids for Britain's youngest Conservative Councillor, after asking on the site recently who qualifies.  (We opened the bidding with Cllr Jodie Jones of Cannock Chase Council.)

• Cllr Stephen Canning, Braintree, 18. (who wrote in: thank you!)
• Cllr Callum Chadwick, Shevington Parish Council, 18.
• Cllr Stuart Green, Breckland, 18.
• Cllr Jennifer O'Grady, Waverley, 18.
• Cllr Jack Brereton, Stoke on Trent, 19.
• Cllr Becky Brunskill, Durham County Council, 19.
• Cllr James Binns, New Forest, 20.
• Cllr Laura Webster, South Norfolk, 20. 
• Cllr Frankie McHugo, Harborough 21.
• Cllr Rhodri Oliver, North Norfolk, 21.
• Cllr Jonathan Gullis, Stratford-upon-Avon, 21.
• Cllr Andrew Sheldon, Castle Point, 22.
• Cllr Gary Sambrook, Birmingham, 22.

For better or worse, I've tended not to count in anyone who was clearly elected before last May: none, in any event, would beat our four front-runners for the title.  Congratulations to all those of any age who in their time have won - or indeed lost - council seats for fighting the good fight in the first place.

A "Local Tory" wrote very precisely that Cllr Green is 18 years "and two months", so I suspect that he will take some beating, and a photograph of him appears above.

Footnote: "SotonBoy": wrote that "Southampton also had two 19 year olds as cabinet members".  I have inspected the photos, and am assuming that have-a-go-hero Cllr Royston Smith isn't one of them.  I am also exluding Cllr Ivan White, though there is of course an appeals process.

That leaves Cllrs Peter Baillie, Daniel Fitzhenry, John Hannides and Jeremy Moulton.  My money is on the second plus one other, but photos can be deceptive.

Ravi Govindia to be the new leader of Wandsworth Council.

by Paul Goodman

The Council's website says:

"Cllr Govindia is set to replace Edward Lister who will step down as leader to take up a new role as deputy mayor of London.

Born in Jinja, Uganda's second largest city, Ravi first arrived in the UK aged 17 following General Idi Amin's expulsion of Ugandan Asians.

First elected in 1982, he has chaired several committees during his career at the council including leisure and amenity services, technical services and planning.

He currently holds the post of cabinet member for strategic planning and transportation.

Cllr Govindia is set to formally take over as leader at the next full council meeting on Wednesday 18 May."

At the risk of alienating councillors elsewhere, I think it's fair to say that Wandsworth has long been one of the most prominent Conservative councils in Britain, and Cllr Govinda's election will be widely noted in local government.  Good luck to him.

I'm not going to list Cllr Govinda's full C.V, but I've been sent an account of his life that he wrote himself, and post below some details of his early years, which give a flavour of who he is, where he's come from, and what formed his beliefs:

"I was born in Jinja, Uganda’s second city, which I thought was big until I arrived in the UK aged 17 following Idi Amin’s expulsion of Ugandan Asians. It is an experience that has shaped my world view and there is little wonder I place a high value on individual freedom and personal choice.

Having spent the previous 72 hours at a half­complete airport being bitten by mosquitoes, the long coach trip to mid­Sussex was a joy. Two days later we were taken by train to Plymouth and eventually to a disused army camp in the middle of Dartmoor.

I was a gawky youth straight from the tropics faced with a steep learning curve – going to a local comprehensive and confronting a different curriculum, meeting new people and new ways of doing things. An early crash course in etiquette, manners and ways of my adoptive country has stood me in very good stead all through my life.

I achieved the required ‘A’ level grades to go to university. To help family finances and save for university I became a bus conductor on the Western National buses operating on routes from Plymouth to all over south Devon and Cornwall. In the summer of 1973 I was voted the friendliest conductor on route 5A!

I read law at Queen Mary College and joined the Conservative Students Association. It was a decision which met with the disapproval of many of my fellow students but I stuck it out."

The vacancy of course arose because Cllr Edward Lister was recently appointed as a Deputy Mayor and chief of staff to Boris Johnson.

Who is the youngest Conservative councillor in the country?

by Paul Goodman

The golden rule with pieces of this kind is that if someone's named, it's not long before a reader has found someone else even younger.  None the less, I open the bidding with Cllr Jodie Jones, elected last week to Cannock Chase Council.  She is 22.

Jodie was born in Cannock, grew up there, established a student council at school, and was consequently elected its Chair.  Then to Magdalen College, Oxford University, where she studied history and politics.  She graduated in 2009, and worked for 18 months in Australia and the UK for a fundraising consultancy.

Then, in her own words, "when I got back to the UK in November, I was desperate to get back to politics".  So thence to the constituency office of Aidan Burley, the local MP, which she now manages - having originally asked simply for some work on a voluntary basis.

She writes: "The ‘Help Zone’ concept we operate means that we are open to constituents every day of the week... I love being able to provide help and support to constituents who, often, come to their MP because they have nowhere else to turn for advice and support."

"My work in the Help Zone is why I decided to run for Council.  There are many problems which I have seen and which I would like to address to improve Cannock Chase.  I know what a difference it makes to people to have someone to turn to who will look out for their interests, and I want to do that for my ward, Rawnsley.

It’s important to me that young people feel engaged with politics.  The apathy and disinterest felt by many terrifies me – and I hope that I can, by being a younger member of the Council, reach out to more young people, and encourage them to take an active part in politics too."

Now, let me guess: you know someone even younger.  But best of luck to Jodie in any event.

 

 

Alex Deane elected as Common Councilman in the City of London

by Paul Goodman

Cry Freedom in the City.  Let it scrub its DNA records, tear down any CCTV cameras happen to be in place, and steel itself for the full disclosure of the last drop of information: Alex Deane has been elected as a "common councilman", as the post is called.  Doesn't he look commanding in the photo?  Is that a Tory branch committee in the background?  Why are they holding the raffle in a church?

At any rate, warmest congratulations are in order.  Deane is a former Director of Big Brother Watch, hence the civil libertarian business above, and a contributor to this site.  Oh, and he was also Chief of Staff to David Cameron.  But the City has an ancient tradition of non-party political elections, and Deane was elected as an independent.  We send him our best wishes for his venture in the Square Mile.

An Afro-Caribbean woman is elected to chair a Conservative Association for the first time

By Jonathan Isaby

It's Conservative Association AGM season and among the many taking place this week was that in the Harrow West constituency.

And the newly-elected Association chairman there is Lurline Champagnie, who, CCHQ inform me, is the first Afro-Caribbean woman to take on that role anywhere in Britain.

A former nurse, she has also been a councillor in the London Borough of Harrow since 1986.

Many congratuations to her.

Conservative Christian Fellowship appoints new Director

by Paul Goodman

Colin Bloom is to replace the indefatigable Elizabeth Berridge, who was recently (and rightly) ennobled.

His political CV reveals that he been an elected Councillor in a large London unitary authority, and for seven of those years was a Cabinet Member for the Local Economy, and latterly for Public Protection. During that time, he fought two seats for the Conservative Party at the General Elections of 2005 and 2010 (Erith and Thamesmead, and Halton).

His non-political CV shows that he spent eight years as Chief Executive of a Christian charity that cares for the elderly and people with disabilities. He remains involved in a number of international aid charities, as well as being a trustee of boxing academies in both North and East London, and had led charitable trips to Africa to construct of water schemes, schools, housing projects, orphanages, and HIV centres.

New officer team elected to run the Conservative Women's Organisation

By Jonathan Isaby

This Tuesday saw the AGM of the Conservative Women’s Organisation take place at Mary Sumner House, Tufton Street, Westminster.

The meeting was chaired by retiring CWO President, Fiona Hodgson, and the following were elected as officers:

• Niki Molnar (pictured) was elected as the new Chairman;
• Pauline Lucas, the retiring Chairman, was elected President;
• The three Deputy Chairmen are now Thalia Openshaw, Margaret Bird (Financial) and Katy Bourne, with Eve Burt having retired after three years as a Deputy Chairman.

In her acceptance speech, Niki thanked Pauline for her hard work and dedication as Chairman, announcing that her predecessor had kindly agreed to continue her involvement with the CWO Development programme, which, she said, "is going to be her legacy to Conservative women who want to stand for public office.”

Niki also outlined her plans and ideas to improve the CWO brand, awareness, communication and reporting throughout the party; working closer with Conservative Future; and the importance of Social Action as an organisation.

Jeremy Middleton, Chairman of the National Conservative Convention, gave the keynote speech to the AGM before a hustings on AV featuring Charlotte Vere and John Strafford.

Celebrating the centenary of International Women’s Day, the afternoon’s session included presentations and speeches from Andrew Mitchell MP, the International Development Secrteary; Judith Davey from ActionAid; Wendy Morton on Project Umubano; and Baroness Verma.