NME Events

With the National Conservative Future elections due to get underway very soon, NKCF is getting into the election spirit!

Friday 25th January 2008 – 8:00pm
Michael Rock – NME chairman candidate – will be attending our usual Future Friday meeting. There will be a Q & A session after our meeting to allow people to ask questions about his ideas, policies and beliefs as he attempts to win over the NKCF cohort. - Conservative Future members at other branches are welcome!
Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=9551789523

Don’t forget to book your place by signing up on Facebook.

If you have any questions, or if you would like to visit us here in Newcastle-under-Lyme, please get in touch with our Deputy Chairman (Political), Matthew Jones – political@newcastlecf.co.uk.

The Dinner Party

It was probably the best programme I’d seen over the Christmas period, and yet it was made and first broadcast over ten years ago. What am I talking about? The Dinner Party.

Over the past few weeks (and indeed the next few weeks coming up), Channel 4 are slowly releasing their archives of comedy, documentaries and drama to the world for free. All through a nifty little program called 4oD. One of these programmes is called The Dinner Party, a programme made as part of the ‘Cutting Edge’ series by a film-maker called Paul Watson. It’s 1997, on a cold night in East Anglia. The cast? A group of Conservative voters, contemplating the prospect of the end of an 18-year-old Conservative government. Set in the comfortable surroundings of a well-furnished candlelit dining room, the group touch upon the topics of the day.

What amused me whilst watching this programme was not the nature of the comments made by a few of the guests. Not the fact that you couldn’t actually broadcast some of the things said any more. Nor the fact that a couple of the guests were rather entertainingly rude. It was the fact that the issues being discussed were rather the same as the issues we’re talking about right now.

Immigration. Education. Sleaze. Things don’t really change, do they? Should we be placing limits on how many people are coming into the country? Can we really trust a new government to make real and significant improvements in education? What part do private schools play in today’s society? What is the effect of sleaze on a government and is it right for them to get away with things?

The guests are outspoken, the wine is flowing and the discussion is relevant. Watch it, you will not be disappointed.

Click here to download 4oD – www.channel4.com/4od.

Celebrity Cabinet

Sky News has released the results of their poll today on which celebrities you’d like to see in the Cabinet. Surprisingly, Sir David Attenborough topped the list as Prime Minister, with Jamie Oliver nestling in as Health Secretary. 2,226 responded, and the winners are:

Prime Minister: Sir David Attenborough

Chancellor: Carol Vorderman

Foreign Secretary: Sir Michael Palin

Justice Secretary: Robbie Coltrane

Home Secretary: Judge John Deed (Martin Shaw)

Defence Secretary: Andy McNab (ex-SAS/novelist)

Scotland Secretary: Billy Connolly

Health Secretary: Jamie Oliver

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Nigella Lawson

Department of Trade and Industry: Sir Alan Sugar

Minister for Women: Jo Brand

Work and Pensions Minister: Victor Meldrew (Richard Wilson)

Wales Secretary: Catherine Zeta-Jones

Secretary of State for Transport: Jeremy Clarkson

Communities Secretary: Sir Bob Geldof

Chief Whip: Simon Cowell

Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families: Supernanny (Jo Frost)

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport: Steve Redgrave

Northern Ireland Secretary: Eamonn Holmes

Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills: Prof. Stephen Hawking

What do you think? Jeremy Clarkson for PM? Maragaret Thatcher for Pensions? Or how about Rob Brydon representing the Welsh? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Matthew Jones
Deputy Chairman (Political), NKCF

Christmas Comes Early...

It's very early on a Sunday morning only one week before Christmas. I'm hearing word through the blogs that an truly staggering poll will be revealed later today. YouGov's research for the Sunday Times should reveal a Conservative lead of a massive 13 points. The Liberal Democrat lead isn't yet around (from what I can see), but topline voting intentions for the main two parties are LAB-CON-32%-45%.

What does this bring up?

• We've made significant progress since the previously concerning/static 40% mark was reported. No more worrying?
• We have made no major announcements but have gained. The main thing? Europe.

Are we about to see the Lisbon Treaty's impact on the Labour Party? Could a Conservative announcement regarding a retrospective referendum boost our ratings even further?

The highest Conservative rating ever recorded by YouGov. What a Christmas present for Conservatives across the country!


Matthew Jones
Deputy Chairman (Political), NKCF

The Mysterious Others

Britain, Britain, Britain.

This week’s polling results from Populus make for interesting reading if you’re interested in politics. Whether you’re red or blue, the poll makes for – to put it diplomatically – positive and not-so-positive reading. Peter Riddell summed it up rather nicely in The Times the other day, saying that despite there being a pivotal group being dis-satisfied with Labour, the Conservatives have only improved their position marginally on certain key policy areas. For information, the top-line voting intentions are CON-LAB-LIB-OTH 40%-32%-16%-11%.

But the real issue that I want to look at here is the concept of a two-party state. Are we such a state? We are often compared to America in that we have Labour and the Conservatives, and they have the Republicans and Democrats. There are factions on the other side of the Atlantic, of course there are, but in contrast our ‘factions’ divide from the main party and set up their own. See George Galloway. Election results show that the Liberal Party (in one form or another) has not been the Official Opposition in the House of Commons since 1922 – 85 years! We have to go back 101 years to find the last non-Conservative or Liberal opposition. Even then, it was Joseph Chamberlain who led a separate ‘Unionist’ group after a dispute over tariff reform. Essentially, yes, you guessed it, Conservative.

The results of the polls are interesting. The Conservatives are generally in the 40% - 42% region, with Labour gaining percentages of between 27% - 32%. This shows that while the opposition are consolidating their position around the 40% mark, the general public’s view of the government is fluctuating and their poll ratings remain considerably volatile. This has led to commentators to speculate on whether or not a coalition government could be a realistic outcome from the next general election.

With two or maybe even three years to go, there is still plenty of time for the smaller parties to make up some ground. In October, only 7% of people claimed to want to vote for a party that was not Labour, the Conservatives or the Liberal Democrats. Now, only two months later, 11% of people will vote for a smaller party. I’m no mathematician, but why? It took David Cameron over two months (from August to early November) and an abundance of bad handling on the government’s part to gain 4%. What do the other parties have to offer?

The Green Party

The phrase “the law of unintended consequences” comes to mind here. So much emphasis is being placed upon the concept of living in a ‘greener’ country, with a lot of resources being pumped into encouraging recycling. Are the main parties actually doing better than they think in encouraging ‘greener thinking’ by causing a shift in support to the Green Party?

UK Independence Party

So much talk about Europe and the advantages of being a member of the European Union could be turning people off the two main parties. UKIP “is committed to withdrawing Britain from the European Union” because it believes that it is “bad for Britain's economy and prosperity, but it is an alien system of government that will ultimately prove to be totally unacceptable to the British people”. The President of France, Nicholas Sarkozy, believes that a referendum in the UK would result in one in France. He says that if the treaty were put to the people of France and Britain, then the treaty would fall. Are UKIP on to something here?

Respect

In their latest policy booklet dated April 2006, Respect say that “A vote for Respect is a crucial step towards the creation of a new radical working-class voice that will speak for millions who, through the betrayals of New Labour, have lost their political representation”. If the Blair-Brown coalition really has improved the economic welfare of our country and, in general, made people richer, will people be voting for this party?

British National Party

Always keen to stir up controversy, the BNP stand for lower immigration, British independence and higher-quality education and healthcare. Are the British people really that unhappy with the levels of immigration at present? Have the BNP already ruined their chances of electoral success by allowing themselves to be portrayed as a radical party? After all, if people want British independence and different policies on education, aren’t there already UKIP and the Conservatives?

What can be said in conclusion? I don’t think that there is any definitive answer. Clearly some like UKIP are trying to approach things in a different way, but the fact of the matter remains that at least another fifty years is needed before a credible alternative to the main three parties can possibly be a viable idea.

Matthew Jones
Deputy Chairman (Political), NKCF

Stronger Together

I was absolutely delighted to read David Cameron’s speech “Stronger Together,” which touched on a very important topic for me personally…the state of the Union between Scotland and England.

Although we may be the ‘Conservative and Unionist’ party officially we never seem to use the ‘Unionist’ part for campaign literature, posters and the party website, if indeed it was ever at all used in England. But David Cameron made a clear and positive commitment to the UNITED Kingdom and to the people in Scotland, and it is the Tory party which are trying to tidy up the constitutional mess Labour has left the Union in. Cameron went well beyond Gordon Browns half hearted and ridiculous attempts to create a false British sense of identity and appeal to English voters and actually challenged the SNP and their separatist agenda.

It is true to say that in the media and on the World Wide Web that talk about breaking up the Union, the reasons for it the and ramifications of such a separation, has been more frequent and the likelihood of the topic going away soon is unlikely with the Scottish Nationalist in power at Edinburgh. No doubt I will be generalising a little but to me their seems to be some very clear reasons why this debate is now more heated than ever before, and should not simply be treated a ‘just talk.’ Indeed, without wanting to sound too overdramatic, the Union is perhaps at its most vulnerable today than it has been in a long, long time.

It appears due to Labours mishandling of devolution and its consequences, sloppy Labour government and its apparent lack of interest in addressing the clear and blatant unfairness in the fact that Scottish MPs can vote on English laws but not vice-versa has not helped sure up and strengthen the Union. Giving the Scottish people more say over their affairs was a positive thing, it can only be good for democracy, but the ramifications of this on the rest of the Union were not thought out.

But it is not all Labours fault, the Tories awful treatment of the Scottish nation during the 1980s made us so totally unelectable north of the boarder than when Scots were sick to death of Labour in May 2007 they couldn’t turn to us as a viable alternative, and instead voted in the SNP with its nationalist and bad Mel Gibson movie rhetoric (I know, so many bad movies to choose from…)

This has all meant some right of centre elements in the English press having a bee in their bonnets about the West Lothian question and this idea that Scotland takes money from England giving little in return, and Nationalist now have the highest political platform in Scotland.

Most commentators seem to agree that Scotland did not vote SNP because they truly wanted independence; it was more than likely a protest vote against Labour and a signal of disillusionment with the main three parties. This is only partly assuring for those who believe in the Union. The SNP was a party which exclusively spoke to the Scottish people and was only concerned with the Scottish people and their needs and concerns. Also the SNP message that England was effectively robbing the Scots wealth by stealing ‘their oil’ and therefore denying each Scottish family their own villa in the South of France and a golden toilet…or something like that…is a powerful one. There is a certain justification for Scottish resentment over these issues; but equally the English, specifically English students, can be resentful at having to pay top up fees, a bill passed at Westminster because Scottish MPs voted on the bill even though it did not affect any of their constituents.

Amongst all this, who has been defending the Union? Sure Blair and Brown would speak up for the Union when questioned in PMQs and other places, but what have any done to protect the Union form unnecessary, avoidable and as Cameron put it: “coarse and casual nationalism” in both Scotland and England.

David Cameron in his speech set out a strong message in support of the Union, better than any speech Gordon Brown has given about ‘what it means to be British.’

“We must confront and defeat the ugly stain of separatism seeping through the Union flag.”

He spoke of how the home nations of Britain united are so much more than the sum of their parts and Great Britain can punch above its weight on the international stage because of that. Therefore Britain can make the world and itself a safer place to live. He spoke of how London is overtaking taking New York as a “global powerhouse” and how Edinburgh historically has been and is a hugely important financial centre…so that indeed together England and Scotland can be even richer and more prosperous.

His attack on Gordon Browns meek attempt at restoring national British pride was also spot on. Focus groups to discuss what it means to be British, a ‘British Day,’ a competition for a motto for Britain are pathetic attempts to address this lack of British identity, like painting over cracks in a wall. The solution is not to get people thinking that they are ‘British,’ it is to get English and Scots proud that they are part of a United Kingdom, and that both nations are treated fairly within it. The current situation can not go on, and Labour silence on the issues is alarming and down right disgraceful.

Cameron has said this issues need to be addressed, although he was light on the specifics and details of how this would be achieved, at least he has shown interest in them. Labour’s response that “we gave the people of England a chance for regional assemblies and they rejected them” is not a valid response to this constitutional inequality. The people of England wanted less bureaucracy and not another level of government, the Labour government need to respect that decision, just like they respected Scotland desire for a Parliament. Did the government not have any back up plan if England did not want to play the devolution game? Of course not, like so many things, Labour simply did not think of the long term problems.

So I was proud to see our Party leader clearly show his commitment to the United Kingdom, an appalling contrast to the actual Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. So maybe we should put the word ‘Unionist’ back into the used party name? I for one would welcome it.

“So I say to Alex Salmond…We will not play your game to break up our United Kingdom. And we will not stop fighting to meet Scotland's needs.”

Cameron’s speech can be found here:

http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=141137&speeches=1

Joseph Kiernan
Executive Chairman, NKCF