Surrey CF

The Surrey CF Exec Endorsement for the election for National Chairman of Conservative Future is: BEN HOWLETT.

A breakdown of results is as follows;

RHUL – Francis Walker – BEN HOWLETT

USCS – Michael Vivona – BEN HOWLETT

Mole Valley – Alexandra Swann – BEN HOWLETT

Surrey Heath – Alexandria Jay Okanska – NO VOTE

Elmbridge – Rowan Cole – SIMON CAVALIER-JONES

Epsom – Alexander Clarke – NO VOTE

Spelthorne – Adam Shire – NO VOTE

Runnymede – Edward Davis – NO VOTE

Woking – Alex Celiseus – BEN HOWLETT

Guildford – Rowan Cole – SIMON CAVALIER-JONES

BEN HOWLETT: 4
SIMON CAVALIER-JONES: 2

Every member of any Surrey CF branch is in no way bound by this result, this is simply the result of who the branch executives back, and in turn the Surrey CF Exec.

One branch, one vote. Chairmans reserve their right to change who they back as they see fit. However, the Surrey Exec endorsement will not change.

Branch Chairman are prohibited from saying ‘[branch] CF’ backs ‘X’ without clearly stating ‘Executive’ or ‘Exec’ afterwards. E.g. Surrey CF does not back Ben Howlett. However, the Surrey CF Exec. does. Equally, Branch Chairman are entitled to say ‘I back..’ but not ‘we back…’. This is to ensure it is as democratic as possible.

Individual members will get to elect one of the nomiated candidates between 8th and 27th September (noon) to elect their favourite candidate. It is only the individual members that can elect, and branch backings are only a recommendation and do not elect the National Chairman.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer, even if it is raining…

Josh.
Surrey CF, Acting Area-Chairman

Well, it seems a kerfuffle has brewed! And brewed strong it has.

As of yesterday, I am now the Area Chairman of Surrey Conservative Future. Now, on a few blogs here and there Surrey CF seems to be have mentioned regarding the futures of two National Chairman candidates of CF, Ben Howlett and Simon Cavalier-Jones.

I wish them the best of luck.

However, a dispute is awry!

I have had a private conversation with Ben about his concern that the ‘Surrey Exec’ has backed his opposite number, Simon.

I have been a busy bee, particularly in enjoying my rather rare holidays and have had little chance to check my ever-expanding Facebook inbox. I have not had the time to vote or to discuss who Surrey CF should vote for.

Rowan made the decision for Surrey CF to back Simon when the other Exec members voted for Simon. Rowan also believes Simon is the best candidate for the job.

I have said to Ben that I have had no vote on who should be the new National Chairman.  I have also had a conversation with Rowan about Simon and his credentials for being the new Chairman.

I said I have yet to be convinced about Simon or Ben.

I know Ben and have known Ben for a couple of years and we have mutual friends. I would not like to jeopardise these relationships by making some crass decision. However, I also have a good friendship with Rowan and the rest of the Surrey Exec, most who think we (Surrey) really should back Simon.  Rowan is, rightly, allowed to express his opinion that Simon should be the next National Chairman. Up until yesterday, Surrey CF backed Simon.

So I am torn. I know Ben, like Ben and have similar friends to Ben, and while I don’t know Simon, I like the sound of him and have good friends who also like Simon. Therefore I am making this decision.

I will abstain my personal vote for Simon or Ben.

I, in other circumstances, would have voted for Ben as I know him. Instead, because of the confusion between ‘who Surrey CF supports’ and the fact I like both candidates, I think it is right and the only fair decision to be made, that I do not side with either.

As for ‘who supports Surrey CF’, I will ask the local chairman of branches across Surrey who they think should be chairman and report back the majority view. That will be the candidate who Surrey CF supports.

I’ll keep you posted.

And that is that. Best of luck to the candidates.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to support my local pub.

Cheerio!

Our People Power manifesto, to be unveiled next week, will give local people the direct power to recall MPs found guilty of wrongdoing without having to wait for a General Election.

Conservatives will empower local people to cast a vote of no confidence in their elected representative and bring an end to the concept of the ‘safe seat’.

This proposal will make MPs directly answerable to their constituents over the whole of a Parliament – not just every five years.

How the Right to Recall process will work:

• The recall process will begin with the filing of a notice-of-intent-to-recall petition, to be signed by at least 100 constituents and submitted to the local returning officer
• Once registered, a recall petition can be circulated within the constituency, petitions for the recall of MPs must accumulate signatures equal to 10 per cent of the local electorate
• Any petition that crosses the signature threshold within 90 days would trigger a by-election

Shadow Leader of the House Sir George Young said:

“The last five years has been disastrous for Parliament and trust in politics has reached an all-time low. People want change and politicians must become more directly accountable for their actions.

“We have proposed a power of recall that will allow constituents to remove their MP mid-term without having to wait for a general election. Giving local people the power to cast a vote of no confidence in their elected representative will bring an end to the concept of the ’safe seat’ and make MPs directly answerable to their constituents over the whole of a Parliament, not just every five years.

“Recall will be triggered by a completely restructured Committee on Standards and Privileges that, for the first time in Parliament’s history, will contain non-parliamentary members – as I recommended to the Committee on Standards in Public Life last July.

“Our proposals will help to rebuild trust in Parliament and put more power where it belongs – in the hands of the people”.

Lets bare in mind that these business leader’s employ around one million people (the first 23 business leaders employ half a million people). Here what THEY have to say about the Government!

SIR – Between us we run some of Britain’s largest companies and employ over half a million people. We are responsible for ensuring that our businesses and our employees come through the recession in good shape.

The Government’s proposal to increase national insurance, placing an additional tax on jobs, comes at exactly the wrong time in the economic cycle. In a personal capacity, we welcome George Osborne’s plan to stop the proposed increase in national insurance by cutting Government waste. In the last two years, businesses across the country have cut their costs without undermining the service they provide to their customers. It is time for the Government to do the same.

Few would argue that the state cannot improve. In the last few years, the private sector has improved its productivity by around 20 per cent, while productivity in the public sector has fallen by three per cent. Savings can be made by removing the blizzard of irrelevant objectives, restrictive working practices, arcane procurement rules and Whitehall interference. Mr Osborne’s announcement marks the beginning of this debate. As taxpayers we would welcome more efficiency in government.

As businessmen we know that stopping the national insurance rise will protect jobs and support the recovery.

Cutting government waste won’t endanger the recovery – but putting up national insurance will.

Sir Anthony Bamford – Chairman, JCB

Bill Bolsover – Chief Executive, Aggregate Industries

Dominic Burke - Chief Executive, Jardine Lloyd Thompson

Ian Cheshire – Chief Executive, Kingfisher plc

Neil Clifford – Chief Executive, Kurt Geiger

Mick Davis – Chief Executive, Xstrata plc

Aidan Heavey – Chief Executive, Tullow Oil plc

Lord Harris of Peckham – Chairman and Chief Executive, Carpetright plc

Justin King – Chief Executive, J Sainsbury plc

Sir Christopher Gent – Chairman, GlaxoSmithKline plc

Ben Gordon – Chief Executive, Mothercare plc

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou – Founder and Chairman, easyGroup

John Lovering – Chairman, Mitchells & Butlers plc

Graham Mackay – Chief Executive, SABMiller plc

Alistair McGeorge – Chief Executive, Matalan

Nicolas Moreau - Group Chief Executive, AXA UK

Stephen Murphy – Chief Executive, Virgin Group Ltd

Alan Parker – Chief Executive, Whitbread Plc

Sir Stuart Rose – Executive Chairman, Marks & Spencer plc

Paul Walsh – Chief Executive, Diageo Plc

Joseph Wan – Group Chief Executive, Harvey Nichols

Simon Wolfson – Chief Executive, Next plc

Zameer Choudrey – Chief Executive, Bestway Cash & Carry

The EXTRA THIRTY Business Leaders that have since signed the pledge;

Kirby Adams – Chief Executive, Corus

Surinder Arora – Chairman, Arora International Hotels

Stefan Barden – Chief Executive, Northern Foods

Robert Bensoussan - Executive Chairman, LK Bennett

Simon Blagden – Chairman, Fujitsu Telecommunications (Europe)

Tony Brown – Chief Executive, Beales

Chris Dawson – Founder and Managing Director, The Range

Sir John Egan – Ralph Findlay, Chief Executive, Marston’s plc

Stephen Goodyear – Chief Executive, Young & Co’s Brewery PLC

Anthony Habgood – Chairman, Reed Elsevier

Andy Harrison – Chief Executive, easyJet

Peter Harrison – Chief Executive, Furniture Village

Grant Hearn – Chief Executive, Travelodge

Peter Hindle – Chief Executive, Jewson

Neil Hornby – Chairman, Hornby plc and Umeco plc

Luke Johnson – Founder of Risk Capital Partners and Chairman of Royal Society of Arts

John King – Chief Executive, House of Fraser

Richard Kirk – Chief Executive, The Peacock Group

Simon Lockett – Chief Executive, Premier Oil Plc

Rick Medlock – CFO, Inmarsat Plc

Mike Norris – Chief Executive, Computacenter

Tony Pidgeley – Group Chairman, Berkeley Group Holdings Plc

Jamie Ritblat – Chief Executive, Delancey

Nick Robertson – Chief Executive, ASOS

Tim Steiner – Chief Executive, Ocado

Michael Turner – Chief Executive, Fuller, Smith & Turner Plc

Tom Wells – Chairman, Charles Wells Ltd and Muntons plc

Nick Wheeler – Founder, Charles Tyrwhitt

Bob Wigley – Chairman of Sovereign Reversions plc

Can we last another 5 years?

The General Election is fast approaching and for many of it will be the first substantial opportunity we have to return a Conservative Government on the 6th May. David Cameron and the Shadow Cabinet have the drive and determination as well as the policies and experience to raise this country out of the impending debt crisis and promote the interests of all the peoples of Britain. We cannot go on like this and the Conservative party have set out a raft of policies that will be introduced if we form the next Government. (Detail here)

Surrey is a True Blue county and I have no doubt that it will remain the same following the election. The Surrey Conservative MP’s and PPC’s standing in the election have consistently set the bar for how MP’s should behave, representing some of the parties best and brightest minds.

Your support now more than ever before is crucial to ensuring Conservative victory not just in Surrey but across the country. Clichéd it might be, but your country really does need you! Please keep an eye out for campaign events promoted through this group and join us in helping get rid of the current Government.

Surrey CF will be stepping up to challenge, will you?

Rowan Cole
Area Chairman for Surrey

If you would like to take a more active role in Surrey CF and the Conservative Party, please contact us at rcole@surrey.cfbranch.co.uk

You may have noticed that the website has changed a bit recently.

Well, the changes have stopped and finally we now have what you see now!

You can see what some of the Conservative policies are, who we are and what we’ve been doing, along with details about how to get involved on the site.

If you register as a member, we hope that you’ll debate our posts on this blog (both support and criticism is welcomed). From time to time we’ll focus on Conservative policy which we hope people will debate too.

We hope to open up politics, explaining to younger generations (and anyone else reading!) the policies of the Conservative Party and why, importantly, we think they’re the right thing.

This is not to say every single person within the Conservative Party, or Conservative Future for that matter, agrees with absolutely everything from Central HQ (European policy, for instance, is not just divisive in the Conservative Party but across the county too). We’re always open to suggestions from younger people as to how the country we live in can be updated to make the lives of British people improved.

The policies of the three main parties will affect your life at some point, so whatever your party leanings, we hope you get involved in some way (even over the internet) to have an input on the decisions that will affect you.

Hope you like the website!

Cheers,

Josh B.

Meet Rowan Cole the new CF Area Chairman for Surrey – 21 year old Rowan is already a Councillor and is set to breathe a breath of fresh area into Surrey.

He has already got off to a flying start in his new role doing an interview this week on BBC Radio Surrey in which he introduces CF and explains our role and purpose.

Rowan announces his mission to encourage young people to get involved across the area and utilises the interview to hammer home the importance of youth activism.

Are you doing enough? The clock is ticking and the election is looming – be proactive and encourage less active CF members to step up – plus don’t forget to push your campaigning activity and initiatives to the media.

This is the time to get involved to make change happen but it is also the time to let the country know that we are involved and the change that we stand for.

So take a leaf out of Rowan’s book and get involved!

It is with some sadness that I am resigning from the position of Surrey Area Chairman.

 The last year and a half has been fantastic and so much fun for me.  Across Surrey there have been numerous campaign days, branch launches and socials, many of which I cannot take credit for but some of which I have been proud to be a part of.  Personally,  my favourite moments would have to be the national campaign days held in Guildford with nearly 30 people in attendance and the recent fund raising dinner with Dan Hannan MEP.

 However, since moving to London and starting work for a Surrey MP, I really do not have the time to give to Surrey that it deserves. With a general election in sight, I think now is the time to stand down so somebody else can have the chance to  make sure all branches are up and running and we have an effective campaigning machine ready the second an election is called.

 I’ve had such great support from Michael Rock, the national executive and so many CF members both in and out of Surrey and would like to thank them so, so much for this.

To apply for the position of Surrey AC, go to  http://www.conservativefuture.com/2009/11/06/want-to-be-a-cf-area-chairman/

Alexandra Swann

   

RSCF, chaired by Alex Hibbit, has been actively engaging within the local community and has been planning how to get more young people involved with politics.

Since Launch

Since RSCF launched in January 2009, there have been a number of activities which we have been getting our members engaged in. Subsequent to our opening evening we recruited many new members and we are devising ways to ensure that this continues.

Debate

We have had many socials since formulation and each had a designated topic of debate. For example, at one of the socials we discussed the Israel and Palestine affair, who was in the right, who was in the wrong, does the answer to these questions matter and more objectively how can we see it being resolved and what role should the UK play in achieving this.

Social

However, we have also had events purely for social purposes. For instance, we went to the cinema to watch Frost v Nixon.

Promotion of other CF branches

We have also invited our members to attend other CF events, including Richmond and Westminster.

The AGM

At the Annual General Meeting, Alex was elected Chairman. However, it seems that this was simply a C.V. enriching activity for him to participate in. This is why Jimmy Hamilton has been proposed as the succeeding Chairman. It was previously understood that I would stand as the succeeding Chairman to Alex, however, this has since changed. Indeed, since Alex’s inauguration, there has been little progress under his ‘leadership’ which is why I am writing this report and not him.      Expanding membership, increasing interest in politics

I have proposed to get more young people involved in politics that we start in the schools and target any over 14s. To do this, Anthony collected and collated all the information about schools and colleges in the constituency. I designed the presentation, wrote the script, drafted the letter to the schools and have spoken to Anthony to arrange dates which we could then use to speak to the students. The presentation is designed to be as engaging as possible, with audience participation, but also is meant to stir up some political thoughts within the audience. For instance, what should we do about immigration?  Why was Hitler and fascism wrong? Why should we care about the suffering in Africa? The purpose of asking these questions is to make sure they understand the significance politics has within the lives of every man, woman and child and the resulting effect decisions made by the political elites have on them and others. The presentation will also cover what they can expect once they leave their educational establishment – questions such as why pay tax, or how much tax costs you are examples of how we will hopefully make them realise the significance of politics on everyone. That is the first half of the presentation, the second half of the presentation is designed to lead on from the first half. Taking for granted they now realise why politics is important, we put forward our argument as to why we are Conservatives. Do they believe in tradition, are they proud of our country’s achievements and do they believe in freedom, democracy, the rule of law, civil rights and in the right of a person to be able to sell and buy and make as much or as little money as possible or in the right for someone to choose what they want to do in life and be properly rewarded for it – in essence – do they believe in the free market and Conservative values?

Progress

The letters have been sent to the schools and colleges within the constituency and we expect replies shortly. We will be visiting state, private and public schools and hope to attract more members, build up a rapport and get young people interested in politics and let them know that RSCF exists.

The June Elections

We played an active role in the elections in June and in the lead up to them. RSCF campaigned intensively for Cllr Anthony Ridge-Newman and their efforts most certainly contributed to the success we enjoyed in his Virginia Water ward. RSCF set up telephone canvasses, walked and knocked on people’s doors and have helped in every way possible to ensure successful elections for the Conservative Party in the constituency.

     Joshua R. J. Burge

Vice-Chairman of Runnymede and Spelthorne Conservative Future

An update on EECF from its Branch Chairman James Tarbit. 

 Since its inauguration just a few months ago, Epsom and Ewell CF has gone from strength to strength, with membership doubling, new committee members co-opted, and a great calendar of events planned through to next year.  

Our monthly socials at the Rising Sun pub and Conservative Club have been very successful, with speakers thus far including Sir Paul Beresford, MP for Mole Valley, Mark Wallace, Campaigns Director for the Taxpayer’s Alliance, and Sir Allan Sykes, author of the UK National Defence Association’s recent report on defence spending.  Future speakers include Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling MP, James Arbuthnot MP, and Boris Johnson (TBC).     

In addition to our social calendar, EECF are campaigning actively on both national and regional issues. 

With the General Election and local Borough Elections just around the corner, maintaining an active presence in the area has never been more important.  We are also taking the Conservative message to the younger generation, with Question Time events planned later in the year for local Sixth Forms and school politics societies.     If you live in the Epsom and Ewell area and would like to get involved with what we are doing, then you can find us on Facebook here, or get in touch with us through the Conservative office – office@epsomconservatives.com