CF Net

Article on CF Diary - Here

Conservative Future is proud to announce the launch of its new tool to help improve our communications nationwide

CF Net is the name for a group of eleven regional websites, designed to help put you, the members in touch with other young Conservatives in your local area. Each site will carry national CF news, contact details of chairmen, info on events and links to members websites. Eventually, the regional sites will link directly into the newly redesigned ConservativeFuture.com website

Importantly, every chairman within the region will be able to post directly to the site, allowing you to see what they are up to, add your comments and get in touch.

The project is run by a team of website moderators who will soon be offering help in allowing you to get started with your own simple websites. For the moment, they will take any links, contact details and news for events to post on the site.

To find your local website, simply type in www.conservativefuture.com/ followed by your region name. (need help finding your region, use the postcode finder - http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=people.find.page)

London - www.conservativefuture.com/london
South East – www.conservativefuture.com/southeast
South West - www.conservativefuture.com/southwest
West Midlands - www.conservativefuture.com/westmidlands
East Midlands - www.conservativefuture.com/eastmidlands
North East - www.conservativefuture.com/northeast
North West – www.conservativefuture.com/northwest
Yorkshire - www.conservativefuture.com/yorkshire
Eastern - www.conservativefuture.com/eastern
Wales - www.conservativefuture.com/wales
Northern Ireland - www.conservativefuture.com/northernireland

The sites are undergoing a constant process of improvement, and so we are relying on your input.

CHAIRMEN – If you would like to register to contribute directly to your area page on your regional site, please email your website moderator, details on the home page of each site.

Registrations will be confirmed and access granted from October 1st when the new Area Chairmen take their positions.

For the Record: CF Radio interviews the candidates

I had hoped to do this for hustings, but it is sadly out of bounds. So here it is, your once in a lifetime chance to hear the candidates for the 2006 CF Chairman election speak.

Listen to my bit here

This election will be dissapointing in that by the time most people have voted, the total debate and discussion will be on the short side to say the least. Having spent a year putting together a team of volunteers with the skills and the equipment to be able to broadcast live events it seems a waste not to use them.

Regardless, if you are lucky enough to live close to one of the hustings venues, I'll see you there.

UPDATE: Tory Radio interview today, expect to see it on Friday

Hustings

The Manchester Hustings will take place on the 2 September @ 7pm - KRO BAR, 325 Oxford Road, Chorlton on Medlock, Manchester M13 9PG.

http://www.kro.co.uk/control.php?_command=/DISPLAY/67/1

Just to confirm that the London Hustings for the CF Elections will take place at CCHQ, 25 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0DL on Friday 8 September at 7pm.

All Chairman candidates will have an opportunity to speak for 3 minutes each. All NME candidates will have an opportunity to speak for 1 and a half minutes each. This will be followed by questions.

Contested Area Chairman candidates will have an opportunity to speak (in London) for 1 and a half minutes each.

This will be followed by questions. Email Richard Jackson at richard.jackson@conservatives.com so your name can be added to the guest list (this only applies to the London Hustings).

Sign Up Campaign: This just in

A member has got in touch to express his dismay at the problems with receiving a ballot. I am in the same boat despite being registered in my home constituency for the past two years. The sender has asked to be kept anonymous.

I am writing to express my concern that I did not automatically recieve a ballot paper for the national Conservative Future elections currently underway; I have been a member of the XXXX Association continuously for at least five or six years (in addition to a couple other constituencies with which I have connections), and I know you have always had an up to date address on file for me because I always receive the Blueprint newsletter in the post.

Furthermore, you correctly have me down as being of Conservative Future age since I receive emails from you regarding XXXX CF events. So I am surprised and disappointed that I did not receive a ballot paper for the CF elections - it is my understanding that CCHQ asked associations for lists of CF members and cannot therefore understand why I did not get a ballot paper.

This morning I have had to phone the CF office in CCHQ, where it was confirmed that I was not on the list of registered CF electors, and only now are they processing a ballot paper for me. I have always found the XXXX office extremely efficient in comparison to other associations, so am doubly confused as to how this lapse occurred.

Anon

(Disenfranchised? - to request a ballot email richard.jackson@conservatives.com)

Endorsements: Richard Holloway - Publicity Officer - CF Sheffield

Richard is a member of a hard working and professional CF student branch. students like those in Sheffield are able to make a huge difference to the fortunes of the local party. It is easy to overlook students or, at worst, regard them as a nuisance. However, our student branches, with a little guidance, could prove to be the key difference in winning elections in target seats.
"Having worked with Andrew on various projects, I can attest to his hard working and determined nature.

His keen vision for an professionally run CF, while unglamourous, is exactly what is needed. I am relatively new to the party and doing my utmost to campaign in Sheffield. The strong, regional focus that Andrew is pushing for is the only way to enable the talents of so many CFers to be fully harnessed."

Richard

For your amusement...

Candidates Greg Stafford (NME and London West) and Matthew Richardson (NME) have hit upon the perfect formula for electoral success. I think Matt would be a good addition to the NME- his sense of humour seems to be ironclad.

Enjoy the below campaign email sent to OUCA members..... (P.S - let's see your comments)

"Dear OUCA Member,

As you may be aware, the Conservative Future annual elections are upon us once again and we are both standing for the Executive. Both of us were heavily involved in OUCA before we went down in 2004, (Matt has been OUCA Returning Officer and Greg, OUCA's candidate for the Holywell Ward) and are still regularly in touch with OUCA and its members.

OUCA has always had a healthy disrespect for Conservative Future and rightly so. The organisation provides few benefits for such an ancient and august institution as OUCA and it is usually incompetently managed. However, having left Oxford we feel that CF might benefit from a few decent people trying to turn it round and so that is why we have decided to stand.

We will certainly make sure that OUCA members who are also CF members will see the benefits of our election!!

Even if you think CF is a waste of money or at best an irrelevance, we would kindly ask for your support in the election. We will try to make that difference!

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us.

Best wishes,

Gregory Stafford Matthew Richardson
St. Peter's College St. Peter's College
Gregory.stafford@btinternet.com matthew@matthewrichardson.com
07973 119 625 07838 150 180
www.gregstafford.net www.matthewrichardson.com

VOTE STAFFORD AND RICHARDSON FOR CF NME

For the weekend: Vote or Die!!!

First election bulletin yesterday, I'm off to Somerset for the weekend

Email: andrew@andrewyoungcampaign.com , will pick up emails on Monday.

I've noticed that as the election goes on more people are getting worked up. This is understandable. Outside of London (and even inside) frustration and a lack of support leave people feeling let down.

But it's not that the NME don't work, it's that a lot hard work they do is on the wrong direction. I hope with the internet projects I have started this year there is a partial solution (more details on ConHome next week), a lasting legacy that makes our communications better in the long run.

The NME needs to look to the long run with all the work it does, and cut out anything that distracts from the key tasks of building up the capability of the grassroots to thrive. Everything we do next year should be to found a lasting change.

I hope that this year's frustration can translate into something constructive, and that whatever the result, there will be a massive change in how the NME works. Lasting change is possible, and now is the time to start it.

P.S - As I may not be able to post over the weekend, here's an educational video on the value of voting. Enjoy!! (Not Safe For Work)

P.P.S - Use the email function on the bottom of this post to send it to your friends

Bees to Honey

Battersea CF last night.

Battersea is the youngest constituency in the country and the Wandworth Conservatives perhaps the best organised in the country.

Here's the weird thing. Of all the constituency chairmen, only one is over the age of 35. Hence, what counts as Battersea CF (rightly, associations are flexible in defining what their CF includes) is responsible for keeping the party in winning ways.

At the next election, Battersea looks certain to be taken by the Conservatives, this will be down to the efforts of a young association leadership - but not too young. The average age last night was in the late-20s/early-30s, this is what, in Battersea, counts as CF.

To succeed as an organisation, CF must extend to these older members. Currently, the younger demographic dominates CF. This is understandable - during the wilderness years it was student branches that kept CF afloat - but there is a real benefit to having a 'youth' organisation for people much older as well.

How to do it then? Well for a start this doesn't have to involve punishing students. Rather than pursue a negative policy of exclusion, the aim should be to attract new members in the right age bracket. This involves tailoring the event to the audience.

A suggestion I think that has legs is the idea of a revived 'City Circle'. A networking organisation aimed at getting young professionals involved. Importantly, this allows for targetted recruitment events - inviting the young professionals from large companies to meet with the shadow cabinet member relevant to their profession, and recruiting shamelessly.

The Jesse Norman event was such a success because it was obviously a brainy, policy-focussed discussion. This had the natural effect of attracting an older crowd, tailoring events in this way allows members to decide for themselves what they want to go to. That should be the emphasis we focus on.

CF Radio Tonight and Battersea CF

CF Radio will be interviewing the candidates for Chairman tonight.

Were I allowed any influence I would also have recorded hustings to allow members to see how their future representatives cope under pressure and how they tackle the difficult questions. As it is the Chairmen will have 7 minutes to sell you their ideas on how they would run the biggest political youth organisation in the UK.

Update: Bit of a disaster, the interview lapsed into an unfocussed and frankly boring to and fro. Look out for the absolute clanger, I mention Regionalisation only once or twice despite it being the key to the campaign. - doh!!

CF Diary: Why I am standing for Chairman.

See CF Diary next week when I will be writing a more detailed piece on the work I have been doing this year

WELCOME - To visitors from Conservative Home. Have a flick through the busiest campaign website - updated daily.

Here you will find the most detailed manifesto for how we can set about transforming CF for the better. Keep checking back for campaign updates and all the news from the election trail.

On nearly all the issues I agree with the NME and Chairmen candidates about what should be done - in fact you can probably flick through the manifestoes of this year and previous years and agree yourself. However, the barrier to preventing a permanent improvement in CF's fortunes has been how we are run.

I am pledging to begin in these next nine months a process of decentralisation. Setting the NME up as a service provider that facilitates the strengthening of CF at its lowest levels.

Beginning with CF at a regional level for most of the country (with the potential to do the same at Area then branch level in future years), we will embed the principle of self-reliance and of the centre regarding its role only in the context of how it helps the grassroots.

This is the radical change I am talking about - if you believe, as I do that, this change is the only way to deliver a sustainable revival in CF then send me an email your support is welcome.

And to those of you already snapped up by the other candidates - I realise that I came into this campaign late, and some of you have been signed up for perhaps four months with the other candidates, but, if you want to break the cycle of low expectations, perhaps the real change you can make is in your support.

Endorsement: Anne-Marie Gregory, Chairman Portishead Central

I’ve known Andrew since I first became a CF copywriter quite a while back now. I’d like to offer him my endorsement as the ideas which he has are exactly what Conservative Future requires.

Not only does he have ideas he has worked very hard sorting out and providing a lot of support for Media Teams, Copywriting Teams and the recent CFTV & CF Radio projects.

I agree with many of his views, especially those on regionalisation, as it is imperative members nationwide feel involved. As it stands there are many areas which have little or no involvement in CF activities as many seem to take place in London. Regionalisation will give the chance for members who would not have normally wanted to get involved on a national scale get involved within the local community and who knows maybe even boost our membership numbers.

I’d like to finish by wishing Andrew all the best in his campaign to become CF National Chairman.

Anne-Marie Gregory
Chairman Portishead Central

Anne Marie is one of the hard working young women that are helping to transform the face of the Conservative Party. CF and her local party have benefitted from her efforts, CF must make the effort to attract and retain many more like her.

Andrew

Sign Up Campaign: Ballot Free

Your suggestions in the comments below please, as to what is the best way to record members who don't have a ballot this year.

There is a serious worry that the elections are undermined by the lack of ballots, this could be a factor in the pitiful number of candidates who bother to stand and the general lack of enthusiasm for the election.

The difference

The manifestoes are full of cliches for a simple reason, we all know what needs to be done, but I'm not going to start picking an argument there. After a frustrating year on the exec I am arguing that CF should change how it works. This is the difference.

A quick flick through the manifestoes will reveal numerous schemes for the year ahead. This is understandable, simple goals appear to be progress. This year it was events, the exec came to the conclusion that if only we worked really hard and organised lots of events then we would have succeeded, we even co-opted another member to organise them.

This election the schemes include targetted campaigns, membership drives or NUS.

However, whoever takes charge next year will be the person in charge of CF in every part of England, Wales and NI and for every task for which CF has responsibility. Whilst pursuing one or more of these goals obsessively may bring short term gains, the problem will remain the same, that the NME consists of seven people (ten at most) and a centralised model will entrench the slow decline we are now seeing in CF.
My main goal is to radically change how CF works. To do this there must be a dynamic shift to the lowest levels of the organisation for all of our key tasks. The NME must stop acting as a London-based super branch and make a permanent change to a service provider and strategic body.

Success in the regions will involve the establishment of a regional identity and cooperation on a regional basis. Achieving the critical mass for taking on larger projects in every region must be the aim of this nine months.

Make no mistake, as a national organisation CF is failing - most of you will appreciate this already - but there is huge potential in our members and it is possible to set in place the means for future success.

Andrew

Endorsement: Stephen Hendry, former chair KUCA

The main qualities I look for in a candidate is looking at their record of success. Andrew's record is the best of the three. Andrew has initiated and delivered projects such as CFTV, CF Radio & CF NET. Andrew has shown drive and passion to complete these tasks with very limited resources. The foundations has been laid to develop our future online presence.I strongly believe if Andrew is elected CF chairman he will once again be ableto set a firm base for CF to grow.

Andrew has always been willing to listen and take on board newideas. This is a refreshing change. Andrew has empowered me to helpimprove CF web presence & I thank him for that. It has been a pleasureto work with him these past few months on CF web presence.

I fully back Andrew in this campaign and urge that you do too.

Stephen Hendry
Former KUCA Chairmen

New Website - Coming soon

As the campaign has grown it's become necessary to improve the website. So keep your eyes peeled to www.andrewyoungcampaign.com for the finished product.

In the meantime, I've changed the blog a bit, hope you like it, just a bit of harmless fun (I'm hoping Iain Dale won't sue).

Don't worry, the blog will remain an important bit of the website and allow people to post (sane) comments on each issue.

For the Record: CF TV -Jesse Norman - Virtual Event

View Add Favorite

Following the very successful Jesse Norman, CF TV is able to launch its first 'Virtual Event'.

Click Here to Listen

Getting outside the M25 is always a challenge for CF. Getting a good speaker to travel can be hard to do, but, with CF TV and CF Radio we now have the ability to record and broadcast the best events via the internet.

Compassionate Conservatism could be the Tory 'third way' that sets the stage for a Conservative victory in the next general election, and its great that in this period of change for the party, CF is there recording it for posterity.

Like all the projects I have set up, CF TV is self-sustaining. It requires no funds, relies on coordinating volunteers towards a common goal and provides a real lasting benefit for the organisation. Until the next election, CF TV will be adding to our ability to communicate more effectively and as it is a glossy project, it raises the profile of CF amongst the senior party.

If I stand a chance of winning this election it will be based on my record, I am happy to measure what I have done for CF against any other candidate.

Sign Up Campaign: Update

Update: For everyone who is worried about not receiving a ballot (again) this year rumours have reached me of good news.

CCHQ may be persuaded that members, (who can prove that they are members) who were not included on the list can get a ballot. More details when I get them....

Friday Night Live-ish with Jesse Norman

CF Radio's popular weekly show had Jesse Norman as our guest.

Jesse is the author of 'Compassionate Conservatism: What it is, and why we need it'

LISTEN NOW

Our first 'Virtual Event' with Jesse recorded at CCHQ, will be available on Monday.

Endorsement: Matt Hartley

“I've not met Andrew but he seems to be the only candidate who recognises that CF is a shadow of what it could be and who understands the extent to which it needs reform. I've followed what he has done throughout the year with Conservative Future TV and CF Net and think he's shown the commitment and enthusiasm that is needed to sort CF out.

Andrew gets my vote, and I wish him the best of luck.”

Matt Hartley
Chairman, University of Warwick CF
Standing for Area Chairman, Worcestershire & Warwickshire

NUS

Let's face it, it isn't going anywhere and will never form a serious part of CF's programme for the year. The question is whether or not to do nothing or to tolerate it.

As a veteran NUS conference 2002, I'm inclined to say 'Why not?'.

There are few opportunities for Conservative Students nationally to meet up, and to have the NUS pay to give us the opportunity is a blessing in disguise. Not only does it allow us to build our communications network (I'm proposing that we attempt proper national campaigns for students next year) but it provides an excuse for the most important student campaign.

Sabbatical positions at universities should be our main priority. Most CF members join at university branches and go on to pursue their interest with the party in later life, catching as many people at this stage should be a priority in our student campaigning, Sabb Officers give us some important continuity and a network of established support.

Positions within the union, whilst offering some opportunity to moderate student politics will, more importantly, provide a foundation for establishing a strong presence on campus next year. The Lib Dems adopt this approach and target their campaigns according to where they need to target seats. Though smaller and less well funded, this approach works well for them, and there is no reason why CF cannot repeat it more sucessfully.

Students will be the great overlooked resource in this election, but the potential to establish a stronger presence on campus, with its knock on effect for the party in years to come cannot be overlooked.

Read 'em and weep

CF Diary carried this today. The list of elected Area Chairmen is 16 names long, 18 seats will be filled after the elections. I recognise most of them, and well done for putting yourselves forward.

If ever you need proof that CF is a failing organisation it is here.

In most of the country CF has ceased to exist, with a few branches providing the only surviving CF membership for vast swathes of the country. No-one can transform this is nine months.

At best, the next chairman can expect to set in place the systems for recovery, but when you read through the manifestoes for candidates, ignore the promises for various schemes and initiatives from the centre. CF needs a revival at the grassroots, the NME will have to make this a possibility, and it won't be by running the show themselves.

Empowerment is the key, enabling branches and areas to take on greater responsibility. CF members are energetic and capable of great things, next year's exec would do well to give the capability to prove that.

UPDATE: CF too boring to matter much

Guido Fawkes, parliamentary blogger extraordinaire, has struggled so badly in trying to find a story out of the CF elections that he has essentially given up. No candidates were right-wing nutters or closet wets - no one has anything much political to say.

Not that that's a problem

CF doesn't do policy, and there's a very simple rationale for that. As a cohesive body it doesn't really exist, so all those members have no weight behind them. They can help swing elections, but kudos for doing this only extends to the local area they have been helping - we are not consistent enough as an organisation to make people sit up and take notice.

The task for the next nine months are about putting in place the systems to get CF working as a cohesive organisation. Also, bear in mind that CF either doesn't, or barely exists in huge swathes of the country. When I say it is a failing organisation, that is not hyperbole.

Until those problems are on the way to being solved there is little point in trying to play at politics.

Endorsements - Jonathan Ash Edwards, NME

Jonathan got snapped up months ago. Had I been thinking of CF elections in May instead of actual elections Jonathan would have been my first port of call. He's a hard worker, but more importantly, a smart worker - CF needs more people like him.


"Although already committed to another candidate it is only fair to say that Andrew has worked hard on the CF Exec this year. He has been one of the most frequent NME attendees at CF campaign days and has been hugely innovative with his e-campaigning portfolio.

Being able to broadcast speaker events online for any member to watch is a huge step forward"

Jonathan

Guido called...

I've been trying to get Guido Fawkes onto CF Radio for a while now.

Imagine my surprise when he called out of the blue and grilled me on the campaign.

Wish he hadn't now. I realised that his main point was that none of the candidates had any politics in their manifestoes - He's right!

But that's no surprise - CF needs civil servants, not junior politicos. The work of transforming the organisation is a long-term job and won't be achieved by grandstanding speeches or schmoozing.

It'll be a long-term process of building up the grassroots...unexciting, unglamorous and definitely not sexy.

It definitely won't help for the A-list...

Jesse Norman

What a brilliant event!

I normally don't do events - I don't think the NME should be in the business of doing so - but CF TV needed to test its equipment ahead of the hustings, and this was an ideal opportunity.

Jesse was impressive on stage. He had a capacity to express well thought out ideas easily and had lots of time for everybody.

I have been to lots of CF events over the years and this was by far the most intelligent one I've been to. This was reflected in the audience. For the first time, I saw people in that critical over-25s age group dominating the event.

What's better is that we didn't need to ban anybody, or regulate, or hand pick attendees. We put on a brainier type of event and let people decide if it was their cup of tea -AND IT WORKED!!!

Rave reviews all round, to cap it all, we tested our ability to host a 'virtual event'. To record a good speaker and then put it online. Despite a cameraman being hospitalised (get well soon Garry), we were able to go ahead with both CF TV and Radio pieces, and we can now begin the long process of getting the programmes produced and put online.

If you attended the event, visit ConservativeHome to leave a comment about it.

Meanwhile, you can hear our first interview with Jesse on CF Radio's 'Friday Night Live-ish' on www.conservativefuture.com/tv

(Thanks to the CF TV team - Luke Janse van Rensburg, Mark Spiro, Alex Crowley and David Coleman)

WELCOME!

Welcome to my campaign website, currently the busiest CF campaign website

Here you will find the most detailed manifesto of any CF Chairman candidate, and details of my record during my time on the Exec.

In my area - eCampaigning - I have begun some large projects to permanently improve our internet presence. These are long-term changes built to last that are staffed by eager volunteers who work together in motivated, well-run teams. None of their work is supported - so everything you see has been put together from scratch and is down to their hard work.

I intend to radically change CF. The past year has taught me that the central organisation can be unhelpful, even obstructive to nationwide success - therefore the NME as a central body will only take on work and roles to support the regions.

CF works best as a grassroots organisation, the next nine months must see the beginning of a significant period of growth in the regions. The next general election is only a few years away, we must begin the process now to prepare us to win.

If you have any questions, email me - andrew@andrewyoungcampaign.com

Nominations for CF Elections

Nominations for the CF Elections have now closed. The clock is ticking until we find out who is standing for Chairman and NME.

UPDATE: List released

NME

Tim Aker
Karen Allen
Jonathan Ash-Edwards
Craig Cox
Ranil Jayawaradena
Claire Palmer
Matthew Richardson
Gregory Stafford
Patrick Sullivan
Chris Wales
Christian Walker

Chairmen
- Andrew Young
- Caroline Hunt
- Mark Clarke

2nd Update - all candidates confirmed here -

Endorsement: Lizzie Fison

"I met Andrew while campaigning for the target seat of Sutton & Cheam in the general election. Andrew put in loads of effort, here most weekends and some evenings, injecting a welcome burst of energy into the whole thing, despite living elsewhere.

I've also seen his commitment to CF through his work on the website. As a writer in his team, I see how much he inspires and encourages us to contribute a broad range of articles that both challenge us and are fun to write.

Finally, he's a great friend who offers continued support and is great to bounce ideas with about my work for Sutton & Cheam CF and the LSE Conservative Association. Put simply, Andrew Young would be a dynamic breath of fresh air on the national CF exec, who I believe would help make CF a much more fun, interesting and efficient organisation to be a member of."

Lizzie Fison, Former Chairman of Sutton & Cheam CF and former Chairman of the LSE Conservative Association

For the Record: CF TV - almost Live

I managed to get Jesse Norman for an event next Tuesday 15th August @7pm.

Jesse is one of the key thinkers behind the Cameron revolution and is best known for his work at the Policy Exchange. Recently, his book 'Compassionate Conservatism' has caused quite a stir and he'll be taking questions from everyone. Admission is free.

CF TV will be putting questions to him and YOU are invited to have your say. Check out the site.

This will also be our first attempt at a 'virtual event'. To solve the long-standing problem of getting good speakers out beyond the M25, we are recording the event and will be posting it on CF TV.

This is hopefully a long-term improvement to our communications strategy, and, technology problems permitting, we hope to do a lot more of these events. If you can make it, I hope to see you there....

Campaign logo

Have been busy behind the scenes taking care of the boring stuff, but as nominations close on Monday I'll be gearing up for the campaign proper.

Keep checking in for updates and to find out a bit more on what should be done to fix CF.

Andrew

Conference Campaign: Clarification

Seems some people have been hard at work misrepresenting what I said, so here it is to make sure everyone is clear:

"I was FOR the conference"

In fact for weeks before it happened I made clear time and again that this year's conference was going to be the best yet.

My point was that the students, who are our largest active group and also our most loyal activists, were fobbed off with a rainy morning in Manchester in a poky side room at Spring Forum, whilst the entire events team, funding and support were poured into Loughborough.

The conference in Loughborough was targetted at Working Life members and had a price tag to boot, after that there was little need to start excluding people, especially if they thought they would benefit from that sort of training.

Hope this clears things up...

Back Again

Holiday is over (it rained anyway). Am just catching up on the emails today.

On holiday

Dear all,

I will be on holiday until next Wednesday (9th August). As this may be my last break for a while I'm going to take the opportunity to get away from it all before coming back for the campaign proper.

CF is a failing organisation and needs radical change, I've set out in more detail than anyone else how exactly the foundations for that change can be laid in the next nine months.

If you agree with the need for change I would appreciate your support. I realise that the other two candidates have had over three months to wrap up everyone's support, but I've set out what I feel needs to change and what I have contributed to this organisation - both these things stack up well against anyone else in the race, so if you want to change CF, perhaps it's time to change your vote.

To pledge your support email me.

Best wishes,

Andrew

The Change Agenda: Campaigning

So far I've talked about the basics, the simple reforms to get this organisation working better, but CF is one element of a political party and every candidate is going to have to set out in some detail how they would help win campaigns for the party.

Election 2009 - Our goal as an organisation must be the next general election and the local elections next year are the warm up for this.

I have already set out the need for strengthening branches and areas by the establishment of strong regional identities with the NME acting as a service provider. As part of their oversight of the regions the NME, working with their Regional Coordinator, will identify the likely target seats at the next election. It is imperative to found new CF branches in these target seats.

CF helps win elections by providing an injection of youth to the party in an area. I believe it would be possible to secure extra funding and senior party support for targetting under-30s in these seats. Including running campaigns aimed soleley at under-30s.

In the short term, the problems of a targetted strategy can be ironed out by fighting local elections or fighting issue campaigns aimed at raising the profile of CF.

Students - Currently we have no plan for students, they are our largest and most active element, but they are seldom used for much.

For one academic year, I plan to run three campaigns;

1. Sign Up - Basically the Fresher's and re-freshers campaigns aimed at boosting membership.
2. Student elections - NUS yes, BUT more importantly elections for student sabbatical officers. This is not about winning the good fight on campus, it's about securing a power base for next year's NME on campus.
3. Issue Campaign - One big issue aimed at raising the profile of CF on campus and engaging politcally curious students with a view to recruitment

For each of these campaigns the NME will ensure the provision of raw materials whether through Fresher's Packs, or by drawing up campaign guides and templates for leaflets and posters.

On a regional level we will target universities with direct help aimed at establishing a strong, lasting CF presence on campus in target seats. (The Lib Dems have tried this targetting approach on campus and it works)

Sign Up Campaign: URGENT!!!!!

I had intended to do a gradual campaign urging people to make sure they got a ballot paper, (and highlighting the fact that most of our members never get the chance to vote), but I've just had a tip-off that CCHQ will only accept membership data until Monday.

THEREFORE - if you are the chairman of a branch who has not yet sent in your members details, you could be disenfranchising them.

Register now!! To check if you are a member or not ring CCHQ and ask for the membership department - 020 7222 9000

Election Gossip

Are you standing for NME or Area Chair?

Leave a note in the comments to introduce yourself

Conference Campaign: 2 Days to go

Time to wrap up this campaign to make way for the next and perhaps more important one.

The aim was simple; to get away from what Thatcher would call 'picking winners'. Poorly judged authoritarian decisions dressed up as an attractive, trendy idea for what is still a worthy goal.

Making students the scapegoat for our failings with graduates is wrong. We must attract more graduates, not deter students.

Regardless, if you are going to the conference - enjoy! It is our best funded event and luxurious isn't the word.

I will shortly give you my take on training, but just for your attention, I will be proposing the most extensive programme of training events yet seen. Simple one day training days, on a regional basis, hosted by a combined effort of the CF branches and Areas in that region.

In addition to training, I'll propose that NME will seek to enhance the education of its activists, beyond skills - to critical thinking about political issues, to address the future need for intellectual depth in the MPs and councillors of the future.

Endorsement: Francisco Esteves, Area Chair - Wirral and Cheshire

Francisco Esteves the Area Chairman for Wirral and Cheshire has written this endorsement of my work and is supporting me for CF Chairman.

Francisco is a hard-working Area Chair and has been making links with CF branches in his region - a priority I will rank as number one if elected.

Francisco originally supported Caroline when asked months ago, because let's be honest, Caroline is a lovely girl and has been active in CF for a while - but once he found out I was standing he agreed to support me as he knows how hard I have worked, and also how I work.

Francisco was instrumental in the technical aspects of solving our communication problems. When we had to find a way to literally get something for nothing, Francisco was willing to devote his time and energy to the numerous difficult tasks involved in rewiring the blog software to form a functioning website. Now we are ready to launch a national network of regional sites, linked to the new CF.com site, that will enable members and chairmen to communicate more easily and cooperate on a regional basis.

Francisco's website can be found here - www.wccf.org.uk

CF TV on the elections

Last Friday CF TV converged on Victoria street to shoot its first set of films. The first of them, on the subject of the CF Elections is available now - Click here (MP4 format)

CF TV is still at that early stage where we are learning lessons about how to get the best product from the limited resources we have (the ENTIRE project is run for FREE using the efforts of CF members and with no support from CCHQ).

CF TV is a project with a lot of potential for communication with our members and the public. It shows what can be achieved when members are brought together, trained and set to work according to a detailed plan.

The CF TV team, like the copywriters team and the soon-to-be-announced CF Net team, are my proudest accomplishments. Their hard work, shows what can be achieved when CF works smartly. If given the chance I hope to be able to do them justice, by taking the lessons learnt and applying them to a strategy of Regionalisation.

To do this I need YOUR help. I realise that many of you may have signed up for one of the two campaigns three months ago, but rather than campaigning, I've been working to deliver these permanent changes to CF.

CF needs change, will you change your vote?

Tony's New Job

Courtesy: Conservative Future TV

For the Record: CF TV

I had a good run of success with the Conservative Future.com Copywriters team, and when I was elected onto the NME I was given the e-Campaigning portfolio.

After a few unsuccessful tries to improve the website - I had drawn up a list of 42 items to be fixed, only 2 eventually were - it became clear that Central Office were not willing or able to offer us any IT support.

I also knew from researching what was likely to happen with broadband internet - we can expect a steady shift towards online activism as more and more people get online.

On this basis, with no support and a looming gap in our ability to engage our members, I launched CF TV - a multimedia site run by our members. The idea was slow to get off the ground as it is disporportionately labour intensive, but the formula for CF TV matched that of CF.com - recruit a large group of volunteers with relevant skills and organise them in a system that allows each to contribute a little to achieve a lot.

Today CF TV is starting to find it's feet. We have recently finished our first batch of filming and the weekly radio show, though only four weeks old, is improving week on week. Eventually, we hope to have a dynamic media team, that helps in our outreach to an increasingly media savvy generation.

Though filming is currently limited to London, it really is a national effort. Our scriptwriters can email in their scripts, editing is done via email in different parts of the country and best of all, anyone in the world can tune in.

Not bad for something we got totally for free.

Importantly, like the Copywriters and CF Net teams, CF TV is designed eventually to be self-sustaining. All these projects are not dependent solely on me once they are set up, this means all the hard work is not for short term goals (like the events this year), but rather for long term aims.

Caroline was kind enough to give CF TV a plug on her campaign blog, (she still appears with me on the weekly CF Radio show). However, if I'm going to persuade people, whom she and Mark have nabbed months ago, to switch their votes, I have to point out that my one year on the exec has yielded quite a few permanent changes, including big successes like CF TV.

Caroline has had two years - including one as Deputy Chairman, and I think I can match up to anything she can claim as her record.

If I stand a chance of winning this election it will be based on my record, I am happy to measure what I have done for CF against any other candidate.

Word of Warning: Part 2

Just read this article on Conservative Home. It details the costs of being a candidate and the demands of time and energy.

The NME is a mini-version of this. Candidates were pointedly asked before the last election if they 'Do anything apart from politics?'

Everyone (including me) responded 'Oh yes!! Of course, I'm a really interesting outgoing person' Well, that used to be true.

Costwise it wasn't too bad, but candidates should expect to spend £2500 on travel, accomodation and extras. Timewise though, it's a complete disaster. If you're doing the job properly expect to work 40 hours+ in the busy weeks and at least 20 at other times (not great if you have exams or a busy job)

I'm lucky in that my job is contracted for 37 1/2 hours and travel time to and from work is short. Also, I get lots of holidays to use. Unlike my opponents I don't have the pressures of a job that demands added extras all the time, but if you're standing this year, bear in mind the nature of the job.

It's hard work, but it is worth it. This organisation desperately needs a strong youth wing to recruit and train the next generation of activists and help it win back the regions. If you want to join the campaign to radically change CF, email me.