The candidates to be chairman of the National Conservative Convention differ on whether they would communicate with the grassroots through ConservativeHome

The three candidates standing to be chairman of the National Conservative Convention answered a first tranche of questions yesterday on candidate selection issues and a second tranche this morning on the role of members in the party conference and policy formation. Here they reply to a final selection of questions from ConservativeHome readers about how they would communicate with the grassroots, what to do about asset-rich wealthy associations, furthering the Conservative cause where the party has few elected representatives - and their principal goal if elected.

Many grassroots activists feel that they don't know enough about the National Conservative Convention and the work of the elected members of the Party Board on their behalf. As such, all candidates for the NCC chairmanship emphasise the need to communicate with the grassroots - and vice versa. But as to the suggestion of using ConservativeHome as a conduit for such communication, there is disagreement. Jeremy Middleton says "we should communicate through ConservativeHome" and Simon Mort says he would be "delighted to write regular reports for ConservativeHome"; Sir Graham Bright, however, is "unconvinced" by such a suggestion.

Below are their answers to that and the remaining questions we posed. The original post announcing their candidacies includes links to their websites and email addresses if you wish to take up any further issues personally.

Question. How would you go about communicating with the grassroots - and not just the 850-odd Convention members? Do you think ConservativeHome has a role to play in that two-way communication process? And would you be prepared to write a monthly report after Board meetings for publication on ConservativeHome?

Sir Graham Bright: Keeping in touch is very much the name of the game.  I would want to spend time out and about in the country not just in the Regions but at Area and constituency level.  I am a great believer in using conference calls to bring in as many people as possible together in order to discuss issues of policy and organisation. I would certainly produce a report on Board decisions to Party officers at Constituency level for them to relay to members - however, this is about communicating with our members, and not the general public, so I’m unconvinced at the moment that ConHome is necessarily the best route for that information, but would be happy to debate it.

Jeremy Middleton: I think our start point should be more two way communication  with Convention members as described in my answer to the final question this morning. I am also a supporter of more direct communication with all members. To that end I have promoted the wider circulation of the weekly email newsletter, and the regular communications from David Cameron to our email database. The key is the collection of  email addresses from all our supporters. I  propose that each Region appoint someone to drive this in their patch. I have always written a report after board meetings which I circulate to anyone who asks for it – although I have not promoted this widely as Don Porter does so for all Convention members. In its current format this would be pretty dull for ConservativeHome as there is much that has to remain confidential. However, we should communicate through ConservativeHome rather than see it as a rival to Conservatives.com.

Simon Mort: I am most sympathetic to the spirit of this question. If elected one of my aims would be to ensure that I never heard again at any level the complaint “Nobody tells us what is going on”. In the main they feel that they hear from the Shadow Cabinet all right.  Communication in the Party is still not really two-way. This was well summarised to me by a Chairman recently “We still get Moses coming down the mountain”.  The Chairman of the NCC has an important role to play in this as the most direct link between constituencies and the Leader and the Party Chairman.  I will produce a system of e-mail links which will ensure that nobody ever complains about lack of information (at the same time remembering the remarkably high proportion of membership who are still not on e-mail).  I will encourage Regional Chairmen to revive the old system of periodic Regional Meetings (popular as Area Meetings on the old pre-1997 structure) perhaps two or three across the bigger regions; I will encourage Shadow Ministerial (soon Ministerial) attendance; and I will attend myself and require the relevant NCC Vice-President to do so.  I am more than confident that ConservativeHome will carve its own niche and will continue to contribute what Norman Lamont calls “a valuable contribution to the debate”. I would be delighted to write regular reports for ConservativeHome.

Question: What would you do in this role to unlock the hundreds of thousands of pounds that wealthy Associations are sitting on? Have you strong views about the future financing of the party?

Sir Graham Bright: Much of the money tied up in wealthy Associations is already used by the Party on a loan basis.  We need to encourage all Associations to join this process even if it is only a small contribution.  We need to reach out to supporters and not just members to raise funds.  The Obama campaign gave us a lot to think about on this particular aspect. How political parties are funded will rightly remain an important topic for debate, and we need to consider every option on its merits and practicality, before opting for one particular solution.

Jeremy Middleton: There are cases where we have wealthy Associations and their assets are not being used in the best interests of the Party.  I am of the view that this is an issue that needs to be addressed, but should be done so through the Volunteers themselves at Area and/or Regional level.  Where a plan can be developed to realise assets and translate them into better campaigning services for members and the Party in that Constituency then this plan should be put to the members in that Association.  I believe handled correctly the membership will agree to unlocking unused funds for the benefit of local campaigning.  If Associations are truly moribund and not acting in the best interest of the Party the Area and/or Region should decide whether further action should be taken.  I would certainly support them. However this requires strong local leaders prepared to act and to carry their electorate with them. I do not believe in centrally imposed solutions except where there is corruption. I am absolutely clear that we should become a mass party of small donors not a party reliant on either the state or a small number of multi-millionaires.  To that end I have actively pursued initiatives that will generate long term sustainable funds for the Party.  Examples of thee include the launch of the national lottery which generated £830,000 for the Party this year and will, I believe, generate around £1m per annum ongoing; the improved economics of our conferences which now make a major financial contribution to Party funds; and the introduction of the per member levy which has generated more than £1m this year.  I believe there will be further ideas of this type.  Some members understandably complain about new initiatives and the costs associated with them but we have to take responsibility for funding the Party and I believe active commercial management in this way is preferable to the alternatives.

Simon Mort: I believe strongly in association autonomy and have said so many times since my election to the Board in 2004. Clearly those which have massive resources must be restricted in any assistance which they get from outside and those that do not assist marginals must be persuaded to do so. A lot can be achieved with encouragement below the radar as I found when I was Area Chairman.

Question: What would you do to further the Conservative cause in areas with little or no Conservative representation?

Sir Graham Bright: Twinning has been very successful but only in some areas.  We need to have a programme of contact for areas with little or no Conservative representation so they can speak to a Conservative MP on occasions.  Help and guidance should be given on the ground to get them to regularly communicate with the electorate by providing help for an In-Touch style newsletter and help with delivery.

Jeremy Middleton: The key is to find more great people who want to win.  If Conservatives can control the Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside and threaten to take a Parliamentary seat in Sunderland, as we now do, then in the long run there will be very few no-go areas.  To find more great people for this difficult work we need to delegate responsibility for running the party to local people who are prepared to engage with local communities and show them that our concerns are theirs.  When this is done consistently we win. The centre cannot create great leaders.  However, the centre can provide support to  maximise fund raising and invest in proper professional support.  We also need Merlin to work and ideally access to a well equipped campaign centre for every constituency.

Simon Mort: This is very near to my heart. I have the honour to be President of both the constituencies in the city in which I live. We lost one of these in 1987 and it has since fallen on hard times in membership, income, local election and self-confidence. We are now bouncing up in a big way and it is well within our grasp in the foreseeable future.  I have also fought seats in the North of England which included many of that description. Here are some pointers: Never write off seats permanently anywhere; Restrict CSI to really sad seats without officers;  Always let the candidates work their own seats and not be drafted into other seats as campaign support (Apart from anything else it is a vital part of their training); The regional or sub-regional gatherings at my answer to the top question above will play an important part to make less fashionable seats seem valued and draw them into the net.   I saw this in Yorkshire 1988-9;  members from South Yorkshire cities could go to Yorkshire-wide meetings to meet and hear Cabinet Ministers, MPs, MEPs and officers with big memberships;  Use groupings – in all their various forms – and ensure that the strong help the weak.   I have been involved in loads of good groupings right back to when I was constituency Chairman.   As Chairman of the NCC, I would play an active part in these processes.

Question: In a sentence, what is your principal goal if you are elected?

Sir Graham Bright: To win the General Election and to keep the national Party’s feet on the ground with a strong and vibrant volunteer membership.

Jeremy Middleton: To build a Voluntary party that is vibrant and growing in scale, influence and credibility.

Simon Mort: To position a strong, valued, happy, inclusive, democratic and informed Voluntary Party ready to get a Conservative government elected with a thumping majority and fit to support that administration in office.

Jonathan Isaby

Comments

[Dean]

Simon you have my vote.

[The Rifle]

Simon's answers were the best.

[CONfused]

It really was quite pleasing to see Simon Mort come all the way down from Oxford to assist in the Royal Docks by-election in Newham recently.

That is impressive commitment

[Malcolm Dunn]

I quite liked the answers from Jeremy and Simon. I do think Sir Graham if you're reading this that you would be missing a trick by not using Conhome. Whilst not all its readers are Conservative Party members (some don't even have the best interests of the Conservative Party at heart)it does tend to reach the most active of active members,particularly some of the younger ones. I don't know what the stats are on Conservatives.com but I think it highly unlikely that they would be able to offer the same numbers or the level of engagement this website can.
Many here do not really know what the Party Board does.Says it all really.
PS Has twinning really worked? I've yet to see an example of it.

[CJ]

From the tone of the article there is obvious feeling that ConHome feel they should be the conduit for communication with the 'grassroots'. From experience I know that many, many of our members do not have access to the internet nor have any interest in the internet. There are also members who do use the internet and email but do not view ConHome, nor even know of its existence (strange as that sounds to all of us!). I am sure from one of your polls you can tell me otherwise but I believe this site is really only read by the likes of us political junkies - from across the political spectrum - and the media.

And do we really want reports of Board meetings and other possibly confidential information posted in this public domain? I think not! It's bad enought at times already, giving ammunition to our opponents.

[Matt]

Jeremy M is tuned in to what is required.

Speaking as a Candidate Simon Mort could at best be described as a posh version of Michael Foot which may explain why he didnt remain in charge of candidates for very long!

[HF]

Jeremy and Simon seem to get it. Jeremy seems to have a bit more drive.

Regarding those wealthy Associations disgracefully hoarding cash in bank accounts. Sir Graham's statement about "a loan to the Centre" is of no use to their neighbours! He clearly has no desire to shake things up.

Maybe an Association should get an extra vote/place in the Convention for every £10,000 they pay (not loan) into CCHQ or to their neighbours each year? How about some capitalism?

At present no one is directing/persuading the wealthy Associations to hand over their cash. Why? Who selects Regional folk? The wealthy? So where is the incentive for action?

[Patsy Sergeant]

I am a 'grass roots' member, and I would agree completely with what CJ said @ 16.25. I am a paid-up contributor to this website, and yet when I attend meetings or functions in my area, I somtimes feel as if I am on another planet! As CJ says, a fair percentage of the people that I meet don't use the internet, and as yet I have NOT met one person who even knows what ConHome is!!

Perhaps as a result of having no awareness of a centre of lively political debate, I find that those same people seem to have a very basic knowledge of what is going on, which is not really up-to-date.

[Ross Warren]

", many of our members do not have access to the internet nor have any interest in the internet."

I don't know who you know, but I suspect that what you say is true of many people of 50 or more years of age. Computers have made their way into many homes, but like the horse and Water, its not always used .

" find that those same people seem to have a very basic knowledge of what is going on, which is not really up-to-date."

Who should be blamed? I believe that the BBC and SKY are much of the problem in this respect. British television used to be a very good source of political and News information. These days our televised news seems almost to be a deliberate smoke screen presenting only a small fraction of the world news and engaging with the politicians in disinformation and cover up. The arrival on our T.V's in recent years of such channels as Al Jazeera, Russia today and Press TV have gone some way to highlighting the real lack of content of much of our National media. In the case of Russia today the news is a spun as ours, but even so they are shown a lot more of intrest. Sky seems to be a never ending tabloid front page. All headline no information. Is it any wonder so many people have no real idea what is going on?

"I sometimes feel as if I am on another planet! "

Yes you are in a real sense in a different set. The Internet is still very much in its infancy, it is yet to produce its first generation of mega-stars. It is for the time being still not a universal medium.

"and as yet I have NOT met one person who even knows what ConHome is!!"

Now in my world almost everyone is aware of Con home, but I am an old style nerd who grew up learning Cesil, and cut my teeth on George 3. This is like Latin both an advantage and a curse. How important Con-home is can be very hard to judge. I do however expect the power of the Internet to continue to increase, and as an established site Conhome is well placed to become an important pressure group in its own right.

[Patsy Sergeant]

Ross I think perhaps it is a question of habit - as one gets older it is more difficult to take on new ideas, and trying out new gadgets. I think quite a few older people are apprehensive about getting involved with something like the Web - as yet it is too alien!

I think it is changing, gradually, what with e-bay and shopping on-line; I think it is the concept of joining a community like ConHome which is more of a challenge for grass roots members. I wouldn't be surprised if they thought that they would be required to 'know' more than they do, or that they would not be able to keep up with younger contributers!

[Ross Warren]

I think your right Patsy, many people are put off by IT having a seemingly difficult learning curve. As a result many are put off. Of course many of the people here will have picked up computer skills working in the modern office world. The younger world, by which I mean those under 25, are almost all computer literate. Politics tends to appeal to a slightly older age group. So I suspect that as the current younger generation grow up the Internet will become 2nd nature. At the grass roots party level the party is still relatively old in terms of average age. So for the time being the Internet is still not as important as the Paper and TV media. I imagine that the full impact of the Internet will not been seen for another 10-15 years, by which time like driving it will be almost universal.

[Ross Warren]

Dang scruffy post...I was going to edit out the repeated "Many"s but hit post by accident. My bad as they say in the US.

[Peter Botting]

This is tricky. We will seldom see the winner carrying out the job - but the consequences of how he perceives and performs the job will affect us for years to come.

Simon Mort is a one of the most authoritative and concise Chairman I have seen in corporate or political life.

There will be many cats in the proverbial bag and the ability to charm them while banging their heads together is essential. He is stroppy enough to do this well. He could be stroppier but hey ho, so could we all. He will know what I mean!

Jeremy also brings something to the table. Not least of all, entrepreneurial ability and political success and insight in the North. The only area where he confuses me is when he suggests we should "allow local candidates to fight their local seat if they have a long history of campaigning and the support of their Association even if they would not pass the rigorous central selection criteria demanded of those who we may one day expect to sit in government."

I understand and agree with the first part - but not the second.

First of all - that sounds like a two tier system to me - just a far less controversial version than the system created by the Priority List that he wants to scrap. Less controversial because it would be downwardly unfair rather than upwardly unfair. Secondly, we cannot afford paper candidates or paper seats. Anywhere. Every candidate MUST be rigorously assessed. A minimum level of quality and commitment must be guaranteed in every constituency so that every Conservative-minded voter in every patch - throughout the country - has a chance to vote for a good candidate.

And I think it both highly unusual and commendable that a "Sir former MP" would go back into some serious heavy lifting within the voluntary party.

I happily no longer have a vote. But I am very keen to see all of them continue to play significant roles within the party. We need depth at every level of the Party. And how good that this sort of selection is open to scrutiny through CH.

[MG]

Jeremy again proves he is the man for the job.

[Rupert Matthews]

I'm still running with Jeremy Middleton on this one. If I had a vote, he would get it.

[Roger Evans]

Jeremy Middleton has my support and would get my vote if had one. It's Time For Change at the top.

[Steve Bell]

Roger 0908.

what do you mean by change at the top?

[Tobisn]

I understand that Mr Middleton is not e-mailing (no communication at all) to those individuals he "thinks" he knows is supporting Bright or Mort!! just goes to show how he will operate if electd. DONT ELECT THIS GUY.

[Gina Hearn]

@Tobisn: Isn't that exactly what we do when we don't deliver to houses with opposition posters in the windows?

[Sally Roberts]

Very good point, Gina!