Volunteers have kindly signed up to report from 9 of the 11 leadership hustings for ConservativeHome.
The two gaps in coverage are Monday's meeting in Leicester and the Welsh hustings - in Newport - on the 29th.
Can anyone help? Budding reporters are invited to volunteer by emailing [email protected].
Tim,
The Sunday Times has reported that Liam Fox has backed David Cameron.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1869918,00.html
Posted by: Alastair Matlock | 13 November 2005 at 00:46
Surely the Welsh hustings should be in Cardiff!
Posted by: Selsdon Man | 13 November 2005 at 18:20
Why? The Scottish hustings aren't in Edinburgh. They're in Perth.
Posted by: Editor | 13 November 2005 at 18:48
Selsdon, I think they are at Newport as there is a biggish group of members in South East Wales & also with no hustings in Bristol, Newport will be looked at as a middle venue for both Cardiff & Bristol members. Unfortunately, I'm unable to make it.
Posted by: Kate Castle | 13 November 2005 at 21:58
Is the Newport vacancy still going spare? I'm still not sure if I'm going to go because I have evening classes to attend to on Tuesday evenings and because evening trains from Cardiff to Newport are as full as John Prescott at an all-you-can-eat buffet but I'm open to financial persuasion ;-)
As an aside, Newport makes no sense as the venue at all. It would have made much more sense to choose either Cardiff (where the Welsh wing of the party is based) or Monmouth (the Conservative-held Westminster constituency with easiest access). The only possible reason I can think of for choosing Newport is because of the idiosyncracies of the Welsh transport network - for example, the hub of the Welsh rail network is actually in the Shrewsbury, which was in England the last time I checked!
Posted by: Daniel Vince-Archer | 13 November 2005 at 22:35
I now have a probable volunteer for Leicester, Daniel, but noone for Newport. Go on... make it so!
Posted by: Editor | 13 November 2005 at 22:45
Newport did seem an odd choice - as the "Welsh" hustings and given that any venue in South Wales would be difficult for anyone in the north it should really have been in Cardiff or even Swansea.
I suppose it is accessible for parts of the West Country but given that it is not aimed at that region and those people would be travelling a distance anyway, pushing it a bit further along into Cardiff wouldn't have been overly inconvenient...
Posted by: Cllr Iain Lindley | 13 November 2005 at 23:45