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)