CCHQ has just issued a statement announcing that this year's Conservative Party Spring Forum will take place at the Welsh Conservative Conference, at the SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff, over the weekend of March 5th and 6th.
Conservative Party co-Chairman Baroness Warsi, said:
“I’m thrilled to announce that the Conservative Party will be holding this year’s Spring Forum in Cardiff as part of our annual Welsh Conference. It’s been a fantastic year for Conservatives in Wales – winning eight seats in the General Election and achieving our best set of results in two decades. And following on from David Cameron’s historic visit, when he became the first Prime Minister to visit the Senedd, this Spring Forum is another sign of how much we value our supporters in Wales and how Welsh issues are right at the heart of our plans.”
Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan, added:
“I welcome our decision to hold one of the biggest Conservative Party events of the year in Wales. It will be an exciting opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to Wales and celebrate the achievements we have made in recent years as well as showcase what Cardiff and Wales has to offer. The Conference will also serve as an important backdrop to our Assembly election campaign where all Conservatives will be working together to prevent Labour using Wales as a springboard for a renaissance across the UK. It will also give us the opportunity to highlight how Labour has failed Wales, and how Conservatives are laying the foundations for economic stability, prosperity, and a brighter future in Wales.”
All the details of how to apply for accreditation and so on are on the party website.
By the wonders of modern technology, Michael has just emailed me the above picture of him reaching his destination, as he reports:
I decided to make a summit bid yesterday morning as the weather was perfect - with light wind and bright sunshine. The cold is still intense and it is essential to wear googles and a face mask to protect from frostbite. I was apprehensive, as I had not slept well and had not acclimatised fully. But it was the right call, as we enjoyed a perfect day on the mountain and reached the summit at 5.00pm local time (8.00pm GMT). It was very hard work and at one point I thought I might have to turn back as I fought to breathe in the thin, cold air.
Vinson is a spectacular mountain with a tiny summit and astonishing views of Antarctica. The summit ridge is ice-covered and very narrow with big drops on either side. Getting there had involved a lot of hard work and training. Oddly, my first thoughts were about getting down again safely with all my digits intact. We have been so lucky with the weather and reached the summit in an amazing five days.
Many congratulations to him. Click here to read more of his blog entries from the trip over the last few days and follow this link to make a donation towards his fundraising efforts. His total currently stands at a highly impressive £336,554 towards his target of £350,000.
As I type this I'm sat in the warmth of my Salisbury home with the smell of a just eaten bacon sandwich lingering.
Former Scottish Secretary Lord Forsyth, aged 56, has decided to do away with life's luxuries and begins tomorrow another of his fundraising adventures.
He leaves Punta Arenas in Chile to climb Mount Vinson – the highest peak in Antarctica. He has currently raised a fantastic £332,844 for Marie Curie Cancer Care (the 80% beneficiary) and CINI charities. I've just made my donation and if you'd like to give please do so via this link. His revised target is £350,000. It would be good to help him reach it.
Via his blog you can keep up-to-date with his two week mission.
David Cameron was guest of honour at today's Conservative Friends of Israel annual business lunch, attended by over 600 people, including about half of the Conservative parliamentary party, a number of peers and MEPs and the Israeli Ambassador in London, HE Ron Prosor.
Speaking after lunch at the Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster Bridge - the very place where Mr Cameron grabbed a few hours' sleep on general election night - the Prime Minister commended the work of the CFI, in particular the trips it arranges to Israel, which he described as "absolutely invaluable".
He said that being a friend of Israel meant three things:
Solidarity: standing up for Israel
Honesty: being frank with Israel
Respect: learning from Israel
Mr Cameron said that Israel has every right to protect its people when they are in danger and that boycotts of Israeli goods would cause many to "go in the opposite direction" and actively buy products from the country.
He also reiterated his belief in a two-state solution, and asserted not only that settlement building was an obstacle to peace, but that security would not come through fighting a "grinding war of attrition". "Putting the past aside can be the right thing to do," he continued, referring to how he has to talk to the likes of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness (although it surely remains unthinkable that there should be talks involving Hamas until it fulfills the three set conditions of renouncing all violence, recognising Israel’s right to exist, and accepting all previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements).
The Prime Minister also commended the measures being taken by the Israeli Government to ensure success for its "modern, dynamic, enterprise economy" and also expressed his delight at how much a sense of history and country matters to Israeli people: "We need more of that in the UK," he said.
He concluded by saying that his and the Conservative Party's friendship with Israel "thrived in opposition... and will be strengthened in government."
"You have a Prime Minister whose belief in Israel is indestructible," he asserted.
The evening was one of mixed emotions. It was, in part, a celebration of the fact that CCF Director Elizabeth Berridge (above), has been made a life peer. Although this is a great honour for the CCF and Elizabeth it means that she will be moving on as Director. Elizabeth has achieved many things during her time as Director. She put the organisation on a sustainable financial basis, built good relations with churchleaders throughout Britain and also ran an annual development and training programme that has seen young Christians, many from Black Majority Churches, become integrated into the Conservative Party.
"As well as supporting parliamentary candidates and investing in young leaders, the CCF has undoubtedly championed the cause of those marginalised in our society. Since Tim Montgomerie and David Burrowes decided to establish the CCF at university, it has grown from an idea into a political force. It has helped shape the thinking and vision of many.
I think of my CCF-led visit to Easterhouse and Gallowgate in Glasgow, as Leader of the Conservative Party. Visits like those – to many of Britain’s most deprived and disadvantaged communities – brought me face-to-face with the great social challenge of today: poverty. That people are locked in hopelessness, breakdown and dependency in a nation as relatively prosperous as ours is today’s great social injustice.
Yet as well as coming face to face with such breakdown, it also brought me face to face with the solution. Embedded in some of these very difficult communities we saw the best of the voluntary sector. From FARE to Street Pastors, and from Save the Family to the Eden Project. So many are steeped in Christian teaching. As a result of all I have learned from so many of these projects, I have become determined to combat this poverty, and break the culture of wasted lives within."
On Tuesday at the House of Commons, Wirral West's Conservative MP, Esther McVey, launched If Chloe Can - the inspirational careers books she has written and is distributing to teenage girls across Merseyside.
Aiming to demonstrate to young women that they can achieve their goals in any field, the book highlights 50 female "firsts", including Margaret Thatcher (Britain's first female Prime Minister, as if you needed telling), Eileen Collins (the first woman to command a space shuttle), Jo Salter (the first female British Fighter pilot), Debbie Moore (the first female to found a Plc) and Louise Greenhalgh (the first UK Female Bomb Disposal Officer in Afghanistan).
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith spoke at the launch, as did skills minister John Hayes, with a number of the inspirational women featured in the book also in attendance.
Esther says:
"The aim of the book is that it will be read by children, who would not otherwise be easily reached by conventional careers advice. The intention is to raise the aspiration of young girls and encourage them to take an active and constructive attitude towards their own personal development. In essence, it is about giving girls positive and varied female role models who are successful in a broad range of professional areas.
Over the last two years I met with over 300 school girls and asked them what sort of book or magazine they would enjoy reading, who and what sort of people they’d like featured as well as what questions they’d like answered, the result was If Chloe Can, an all inclusive magazine, distributed for free to school girls across Merseyside, so reaching out to all girls, from all backgrounds, with the message ‘If Chloe Can’, You can too."
"The Prime Minister welcomed today’s announcement by the Royal Household of the date for the marriage of Prince William and Ms. Middleton. It was agreed by Cabinet that the day will be marked by a Public Holiday. Public Holidays are devolved in Scotland. The Scottish Government will be making proposals to the Scottish Parliament shortly."
The Prime Minister said:
"The wedding of Kate and William will be a happy and momentous occasion. We want to mark the day as one of national celebration, a public holiday will ensure the most people possible will have a chance to celebrate on the day. The costs of the wedding itself will be met by the Royal Household, with Government meeting any wider security or transport related costs."
Cabinet ministers, MPs, journalists and military heroes attended the official opening yesterday evening of the new Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum. The guest of honour was the Princess Royal.
The Gallery houses the collection of Victoria Crosses (164) and George Crosses that Lord Ashcroft has been assembling over many years. Thanks to a £5m donation from the former Tory Treasurer to the IWM, as well as the unknown cost of purchasing the medals, the collection will now be kept in Britain and enjoyed by the public.
Speaking at the launch event Lord Ashcroft explained how his interest in extraordinary heroism had developed as young boy, listening to his father talk about his own terrifying experiences during the D-Day landings:
"As a small boy, I sat wide-eyed as he painted a vivid picture of his small landing craft crashing through the waves towards Sword Beach and as he conjured up the sense of fear as he and his men approached the inevitable hail of machine-gun fire that would 'welcome' them as they raced towards French soil. I felt a surge of pride that my father - Lieutenant Eric Ashcroft - had played such a courageous part in the war effort.
Gradually my interest in bravery grew and grew. Courage is a truly wonderful quality yet it is so difficult to understand. You can't accurately measure it, you can't bottle it and you can't buy it, yet those who display it are, quite rightly, looked up to by others and are admired by society."
Every year the Dogs Trust holds a mini Crufts for MPs' dogs one morning in the gardens adjacent to the Houses of Parliament.
This year's event took place yesterday and members of the Tory Class of 2010 swept the board when the judges distributed the rosettes for the Westminster Dog of the Year.
Taking first prize was Charlie, the Border Terrier owned by Helen Grant; in second place was Jake Berry's Poodle, Lola; and coming in third was Dido, the Lurcher owned by Rebecca Harris.
Today sees the Tory Reform Group holding its 35th anniversary conference at the Royal Overseas League in Central London with a plethora of speakers contributing to the all-day event. The line-up includes Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt; Cabinet Office MInister Baroness Verma; recently-elected MPs Neil Carmichael, Jane Ellison and Richard Fuller; and Charles Tannock MEP.
But the first session of the day saw Home Office Minister and TRG Vice President Damian Green deliver a keynote address to mark the 35th anniversary of the founding of the TRG by the late Lord Walker of Worcester - SCROLL TO BOTTOM FOR VIDEO!
He began by expressing his delight that much of the agenda on which TRG has long campaigned is now at the heart of Conservative, and government, policy:
"It’s an honour to be asked to speak today on the occasion of the Tory Reform Group’s 35th Anniversary... Today’s Conservative Party does now care about many of the issues the TRG has always cared about. The last five years have seen the Party transform under David Cameron. Both in tone and content it is clear, and welcome, that the Party under David Cameron is recognisably living in the 21st century and grappling with the problems of Britain today. It is modern and outward looking. It is determined to devolve power from the state to the individual. And to restore the civil liberties eroded by Labour’s authoritarian state."
But he emphasised the need for the TRG to continue pushing that "progressive" agenda within the Conservative Party:
"The circumstances of the Coalition make it even more important than ever that our section of the Conservative tradition flourishes. It obviously too early to tell what will happen to the long-term relationship between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. We are still in the early tentative stages of this relationship.
"What is absolutely clear to me is that the Conservative Party must retain its own capacity to be moderate and progressive. We must not sub-contract the need to keep the Government in the progressive space to the Liberal Democrats. It would not only be bad for the Government to think that progressive policies must come from the Liberal Democrats it would be flatly untrue. I am about to go though some of the key policy areas in which the Conservative progressive tradition is proudly upheld.
"Thinking longer-term, as we should do at this type of celebratory conference, it would be a disaster for the Conservative Party to lose the habit of thinking progressively. Some Conservatives do not have this habit, and some indeed regard it as a very bad habit. So the role of the TRG is more important than ever under the Coalition. We need to maintain a strand of thought which is recognisably moderate and reforming, but also recognisably Tory. Because we are not Liberal Democrats. We do look first to the market, to the voluntary sector, to the individual. We glory in the history of our country.
"We know that sometimes you have to be hard-headed as well as warm-hearted. But as Tory Reformers, we know that it is right to help the poor, both at home and around the world. We know that individuals flourish best in strong communities. We know that spreading opportunity throughout the economic spectrum is the best gift a Government can provide its people."
He went on to highlight the ways in which the new Government is introducing reforms to improve opportunity for the most disadvantaged in society: Iain Duncan Smith's welfare reforms, Michael Gove's education reforms and the commitment to the NHS which Andrew Lansley is overseeing. "These are three big and hugely ambitious policy areas which illustrate what Tory Reform is actually about in practice," he said.
Mr Green then highlighted the decentralising policies being implemented in local government and policing, as well as the variety of measures being introduced to "make this a free country again".
He concluded:
"What is vital for the next five years and beyond is that a significant proportion of the Conservative Party continues to articulate the progressive Conservative message. Never again should we have to be warned about being out of touch and out of time.. A successful Coalition Government will make the real the argument that many of us have been making for the past 35 years, and will go on making for the next 35. That a combination of Tory realism and progressive idealism gives us the right kind of Government, the right kind of politics, and most importantly, a country we can be proud of".
3.30pm update:
Here is the video of Damian Green's speech in full:
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