Confession Time

I'm not a Catholic, but something tells me that a bit of confession is good for the soul right now.

Truth is, I once joined the Mark Clarke Campaign - well almost.

The decision not to stand again for NME was made a while ago, and I had just planned to carry on with the work with CF.com, CF TV and CF Net, as well as the training days.

However, at a friends barbecue, the now ubiquitous pairing of Clarke and Palmer arrived. I thought it was odd that they were there, but assumed that one or both of them had struck up a friendship with our host.

Whilst I was grilling the burgers, future A-Lister Mr Clarke sidled up to me and began to chat.

"So Andrew are you going to stand again?"

"Umm...no, the NME is too expensive, and it doesn't help with the work I do with CF to be a member. I'm just gonna manage the teams in the same way I did with the Copywriters before I got elected."

"Oh that's good, cause I'm going to need, that sort of help when I'm in there. It''ll be good to have someone doing that."

...and so I became a hapless stooge to the best funded campaign CF has ever seen.

Thing is though, I really don't know Mark, and supporting the ClarkePalmer slate was unlikely. I've been a member of CF for four years now and know most of the long-standing activists, and Mark isn't amongst them.

The only thing I do know, is that he is one of the organisers of the CF Conference, and as good as that event will be (and with all the funding it's being given) I feel really uncomfortable about the student ban.

As much as CF does need a shot of professionalisation, when the Chairman's term is likely only to be nine months, I'm not sure we can spare the time for someone to learn the ropes. We definitely can't afford to have more politburo schemes from the centre.

I realise that Caroline and Mark have been campaigning for months before I even decided to stand, but I'll happily compare my record in this past year with anything either of them have done for CF. If you were signed up to support either camp before the summer, now is the time to change. Email me.