From Councillor Miles Windsor and Ben Harris-Quinney: The same-sex marriage bill is a symptom of a wider malaise at the top of the Party

Cllr Miles Windsor, Chairman of Conservative Grassroots & Cllr Ben Harris-Quinney, Director of Conservative Grassroots.  Follow Miles, Ben and  Conservative Grassroots on Twitter.

The SSM Bill is upon us again and, like reluctant, battle scarred warriors, members on both sides of the debate are trudging wearily back into the fray. Needless to say, the SSM bill is a political minefield. Whilst we can acknowledge the admirable motivation to see minority groups fully included in a united Britain, Conservative Grassroots is of the opinion that the Bill is politically, intellectually and philosophically bankrupt.

It would be self-indulgent to run through the multifarious arguments against this highly un-conservative piece of social engineering, and the long list of concerns have been expressed inside the Commons Chamber and outside via the media.  As Conservative Grassroots, our great concern is that the Conservative Party membership is engaged and involved in the direction of the organisation to which we give our time, money and support. The Party is not only reliant on the many hard-working individuals who stuff envelopes, knock on doors and, indeed, cast votes - those people are the Party. However, in the presentation and execution of this Bill, our leadership has demonstrated no interest in the views of its members or the core Conservative vote. We will not be alone in our experience of angry activists rescinding their membership or the dismay of voters expressed during conversations on the doorstep.

People who have supported the party for decades have pledged never to vote Tory again as a result of this policy and its management. Whilst you can find polling to suit whichever position you favour, there have been a number that one might think would even worry those operating from Number 10. For examples see here and here.

These polls have clearly been ignored, but the figures that cannot be ignored are those that show UKIP trailing the Conservative Party by just ten points, following cataclysmic results in Eastleigh and the local elections. The response to this from David Cameron and Grant Shapps was to say that the message had been heard and understood - and changes would be made.

Ben Harris-Quinney: Cameron still has time to create an international legacy that can win him the next election

Ben Harris-Quinney is Chairman of the Bow Group and International Security Research Fellow. Follow Ben on Twitter.

For all of the analysis, debate and discord, I often wonder if politics is not far simpler that the acres of pontificating text produced every day on the subject may suggest.

30 years ago French sociologists conducted an experiment in which they took photos of their last 8 Présidents de la République, and their electoral challengers, to a remote African tribe with limited connection to the outside world or knowledge of French history. The tribe was asked to pick a victor and, by majority, they guessed all 8 Presidents correctly.

Experienced psephologists will perhaps balk at the relevance or scientific integrity of their experiment, but Kennedy and Blair have been the flag bearers for the increasing truth that in this era, at least in the US and UK, it is almost impossible to return to the quietly effective, grey suited policy wonk of old. Leadership means looking, as well as acting, like a leader. In a political context, it isn’t just looks, it is strength that matters, and being considered a strong leader rarely comes quickly, but it is the most important accolade to win.

In July 2010, Lady Thatcher said “The trouble with the world today, is that there are no leaders of great strength”, and she was quite aware that David Cameron was Prime Minister; she may have even considered him in making the statement. Today, with full the faculty of her youth, I do not doubt that she would view the modern Conservative Party, or its executive, with a degree of suspicion usually reserved for an opposition party. But the man who has set out to expel her lingering claim to the Conservative architecture is not someone she would dismiss now as the open necked estate agent she first met in 2005.

Ben Harris-Quinney: The progress to reform our National Security Executive has stalled; it must return as a priority

Ben Harris-Quinney is Chairman of the Bow Group and International Security Research Fellow. Follow Ben on Twitter.

A catalogue of events in the early 21st century have ensured that national security is, and will remain, at the top of the political and news agenda. The Coalition Government rightly therefore made reform to COBRA and the National Security Executive a priority in the early months of government.  Some progress was made at the time in moving the United Kingdom to the point of having a truly world leading security and intelligence executive infrastructure.

Some months into the process however, it appeared to stall.

The move to formalise COBRA was undoubtedly correct, excessive bureaucracy is never appealing, but on matters as important as national security and defence, having a clear and rigorous organisational structure is essential. That as a nation we have spent so long with an ad-hoc structure in place is baffling in itself.

With added scrutiny over national security for the 2012 Olympics, now is an opportune time to return to and complete the process of reform to the National Security Executive that began in 2010. The Bow Group has therefore this week released a paper by Dr James Boys and Dr Liam Fox MP to analyse and address the current structure of COBRA, and to recommend changes to the current structure to progress to a point that is fit for purpose and ready to respond to any security challenges we may face.

Ben Harris-Quinney: The Bow Group at 60

Ben Harris-Quinney is Chairman of the Bow Group and International Security Research Fellow

On Tuesday evening the Bow Group celebrated its 60^th Anniversary at its annual summer terrace reception.

It is an event in which the issues of the day usually occupy centre stage: at the same time last year, Jeremy Hunt addressed the group during the white heat of the hacking scandal as Rupert Murdoch was led into the Leveson enquiry.

From the perspective of six decades of history, however, most Issues of the day are of passing intrigue, but the issues and challenges that are fundamental; those of economy, society and Great Britain’s place in the world will endure and recur.  Only the considered thought of a longevous organisation can sate their rapacious appetite for ideas and policy.

For many of us, and often particularly younger conservatives finding their way, that organisation is and has been the Bow Group. For 200 of the Group’s past alumni, from Sir John Major to Norman Lamont, on Tuesday evening, it deserved to occupy centre stage in itself.

Ben Harris-Quinney: Our ex-pats must now have the full right to vote

Ben Harris-Quinney is Chairman of the Bow Group and International Security Research Fellow.

I expect few, even in political circles, are thinking about the proposals to reform Section 3 of the Representation of the People Act on the eve of its debate in Parliament tomorrow.

It has barely featured at all in the media or in Westminster discourse; this only serves to underline how far behind we are in the consideration of truly conducting foreign policy and democracy in a networked, and increasingly globalised, world.

Section 3 of the Representation of the Peoples Act, amended under the Blair government, states that no British citizen who has lived abroad for more than 15 years may vote or stand in UK elections.

Equally, British citizens are not required, or even prompted, to register with their local consulate upon taking up full or part time residence abroad.

Ben Harris-Quinney: What really matters isn't tax avoidance. It's whether you are a a net benefactor or a net detractor

Ben Harris-Quinney is Chairman of the Bow Group and International Security Research Fellow.

A febrile media and discontented nation feels as if it is about to tear through the tax records of everyone who has ever stepped into the public eye. On what basis? Not a vast conspiracy or crime, not even an immorality, but simply the apparently sudden realisation citizens may have been rationally avoiding tax.

Jimmy Carr’s hypocrisy in criticising low tax policies of governments, companies and individuals may have ruined his credibility as a social commentator, but that is all it should have done.

The Government is straying on to very dangerous ground for a myriad of reasons in criticising tax avoidance so strongly, but fundamentally the suggestion that there is any immorality in avoiding tax assumes that tax, in its collection and subsequent redistribution, is an indisputably moral act. It isn’t, and aside any state imposed moral imperative, the heavy taxation of Britain’s wealthiest citizens is neither to the net benefit of our economy.

Ben Harris-Quinney: The UK needs to be more active in its military bilateralism in Europe

Ben Harris-Quinney is Chairman of the Bow Group and International Security Research Fellow.

Many will recall the November 2010 London Summit between the UK and France to announce the formation of a defence treaty binding the armed forces of the two nations together in a bilateral military alliance for a 50 year term.

It was greeted with some consternation in both countries and largely absent of operational clarity outside of existing NATO partnership; yet was the foundation of a bond of trust formed between Prime Minister Cameron and President Sarkozy.

In 2012, in the run up to the French election, the military partnership between the two nations was strongly cited as Cameron offered vocal support to Sarkozy’s re-election campaign.

A treaty such as this designed to span 5 decades clearly cannot rely on elected officials alone, however it would seem that the treaty was at least in part linked to the relatively strong relations between Cameron and Sarkozy. It would therefore be reasonable to urgently consider if it retains the same strength and relevance following the May 2012 election of Francis Hollande as it once did, especially with the real and imminent possibility of further conflict in the Middle East.

Benjamin Harris-Quinney: Young people should be deeply concerned by the nation’s economic future and position in the world

Benjamin Harris-Quinney is the Chairman of the Bow Group.

The people for whom low growth, increasing government debt, and high unemployment, should be the most sobering news are those who most often exhibit the least concern, and have the smallest voice when policy is being made.

Young people in Britain, more than any other demographic, should be deeply concerned by the nation’s economic future and position in the world.

The harsh reality for those born after the Thatcher years is that unless they are fortunate enough to be born into wealth and privilege, freedom to work, own property and reach aspirations will depend more on luck and less on hard work and ability.

Benjamin Harris-Quinney: Must the home of free-market conservative thought disappear into the ether?

Benjamin Harris-Quinney is the new Chairman of the Bow Group. Previously he was Political Officer and Chairman of the Foreign Policy & Security Committee. You can find out more at Bow Forward or by following Bow Forward on Twitter.

A week after Lady Thatcher’s 86^th birthday, one of the institutions that formed a pillar of the philosophy of her government, and of many before it, faces a crisis of existence.

The Bow Group is sixty years old this year, and rather than a celebration of its great history, the institution is battling is on the precipice of its own demise.

Why?

While the group may have been for many years a vibrant hotbed of conservative thought, of immeasurable value to the prosperity of the Conservative Party, the nation and the Commonwealth, it has consistently failed to apply many of the principles it espoused to the saviour of our nation, to save itself.

It is no advert for conservatism to compare the Bow Group to its long standing opposite and rival, the Fabian Society. 

While the Fabians have become an immensely powerful institution, wealthy, stable, competitive, king maker to Labour leaders and Prime Ministers, the foundation stone of one of our finest universities, the Bow Group has increasingly become an also-ran, first in wealth and stability, and then inevitably in thought and influence.