CONFERENCE REPORT

Dear Member,

I am compiling a brief summary of some of the highlights from the Party Conference.  The mood in Bournemouth was very upbeat.  There is no disguising the fact that we are not where we would like to be in the polls.  However there is a feeling throughout the party that we are better placed to get our message across than we were this time last year in Blackpool and the reception to Michael Howard’s speech was phenomenal.

As anyone who has attended a party conference knows there is so much going on that one can only really take in a fraction of what there is on offer.  There follows then just a snapshot of the event from my perspective.  Others will have their own experiences and I’m delighted to say we had a good turnout from Holborn & St Pancras.  John Walter, Brian Coleman, Nick Oemcke, Rob Morrit, Alex Pierre-Travis and Julian Smith were all here for all or part of the conference as was my researcher Caroline Kerswell.

Conservatives 4 Cities

I’ll start with something I couldn’t attend.  As many of you know John Walter is the principal founder and organiser of Conservatives 4 Cities.  Oliver Letwin spoke on “Why Conservatives believe in social justice” and John managed to get Channel 4 to film the event.   I have yet to see TV cameras at any fringe event so hats off to John for his PR skills.

Conservative Business Day

Forty or fifty senior representatives of big business were given a day of meeting MPs, MEPs and members of the shadow cabinet.  Michael Howard also took part.  On our table the discussion was around the party’s tax policies.  It was felt that we should not talk ‘tax cuts’ up too much.  But that we should emphasise value for money.  People accepted that they should pay tax but resented it when their money was wasted.  There were objections to specific taxes that were perceived to be unfair (the rate at which the top rate of 40% kicks in, inheritance tax and tax on the very low paid).

The corporate guests enjoyed their day, which was a testimony to the wonderful efforts of the voluntary side of the party.  We are very lucky to have the enthusiasm and commitment of Kay Coleman, vice chairman of the party for business, and a successful businesswoman in her own right, behind our campaign to win back the business vote.

The world after Iraq: The long term Implications for Security & Global Politics

This event, organised by the BBC World Service & the British Council was the highlight of the conference for me.  Michael Ancram, shadow Foreign Secretary and Michael Gove, assistant editor of The Times and prospective parliamentary candidate for Surrey Heath were both excellent.  They were joined by two other experts – one from ‘Republicans Abroad’ and one from Chatham House. 

The two Michaels (at least one a future Foreign Secretary I predict) both agreed that the Iraq war had been worth the terrible problems we are now facing.  The main fault lay not in going to war but in the poor preparations for a post war Iraq.  Michael Ancram also said that the initial dismantling of the Iraqui security forces had been a terrible mistake.  He said that the rules of occupation (I was surprised he used that term) were:  to tell the army and the police to go back to their barracks/stations and  await further instructions and to tell the civil service to keep at their desks and work on until further instructions.  They did not make much of the ‘false prospectus’ upon which it is alleged we went to war. 

In terms of the future they agreed that it was crucial that we did not play into Al Quaeda’s hands in stoking up a ‘clash of civilizations’.  We need to do all we can to prevent that, build bridges with legitimate Islam both at home and abroad that ultimately marginalised the Islamic fundamentalist agenda.

I asked questions on two points.  What contingency plans could be made to cover the possibility that one of the many assassination attempts on the life of General Musharaf of Pakistan succeeded?    The potential for WMD to pass into the wrong hands if anything did happen to Musharaf seems high.  Secondly was Israel going to stand by and allow Iran to develop fully it’s nuclear potential?  Israeli bombing of Iraq’s nuclear developments set that country’s WMD programme back decades.  The panel thought that Israel would be unable to mount such an attack on Iran without American help.  Throughout it’s short history though Israel has demonstrated an astonishing ability to overcome practical obstacles whenever her existence is under threat.

'Groundwork and Policy Exchange on ‘Reclaiming Communities’

These two organisations are stars in their field.  Policy Exchange, chaired and run by two of our very best prospective candidates, Michael Gove (Surrey Heath) and Nick Boles (Hove) is alive with great ideas and groundbreaking discussion.  Groundwork facilitate local initiatives that enable law abiding citizens who want to make a contribution to reclaim their neighbourhood from thugs and drug addicts.

Jan Berry from the Police Federation called for a visible police presence with the right powers of intervention.  Sandy Bruce-Lockhart leader of Kent County Council said there was confusion about the remit of Community Support Officers.  Jan worried that CSOs were a strategy of creating a two-tier police service “on the cheap.”  She may be right but I have heard that from just about every profession when it is suggested that lesser qualified people can do part of their work. 

Sandy’s solution in Kent was the deployment of Council Wardens to support the police in preventing low level crime and anti-social behaviour.  They were attached to the council and had a clear remit.  Sandy has travelled extensively in his quest to understand how best to prevent criminal behaviour and said that the importance of local accountability could not be under-estimated, Britain was, he said, unique in the world in having central control of policing.  Borough Commanders look up to the Home Office and not out to their communities and there are far too many unconnected funding streams.

I asked about the tensions between recent anti-social behaviour legislation and personal freedoms.  I am most concerned about the use of curfews to keep teenagers off the streets.  All the speakers agreed that it was a sign of failure that curfews are needed but that in areas like Somers Town where gang warfare had made life intolerable for residents they were a necessary evil.  I still maintain that the use of such draconian measures will reinforce criminality.  What is needed is an overhaul of the penal system so that ringleaders are in young offenders institutions and not busy turning our streets into curfew zones.  We have to sort out the low detection rates and the bureaucratic and overly lenient court system.

National Grid Transco and The Prison Reform Trust

If our party is to take a tough line on law and order, which it is doing with my 100% support, then it has a responsibility to do everything possible to rehabilitate offenders and improve prison conditions.  I was disappointed therefore with the low turnout to this event, which was one of the most inspiring meetings I attended.

It was Jeffrey Archer’s book on his experiences on the inside that aroused my interest in prisons.  It brought home to me what it was like to be locked in a small cell for 23 hours a day.  To share a small cell designed for single use with someone who has no respect for himself let alone for you. And that so many of Jeffrey’s fellow inmates had come from chaotic and hopeless backgrounds, had ended up in state care when young and had mental health problems and or a drug habit. 

The meeting heard that on release prisoners walk from prison with nowhere to go and no job for the most part.  We hear the government trumpet that a third of prisoners have a job to go to, no says the Prison Reform Trust, they have a job interview set up – a very different thing and something that can easily be rigged by a prison service anxious to meet targets.

So it was absolutely marvellous to hear from the speaker on behalf of Transco talking about their “Offender Training and Employment Programme”.  Transco require engineers and they sponsor a prison training scheme that takes prisoners with no qualifications and over thirteen weeks they complete an engineering course that gives them NVQ levels one and two and a guaranteed job with Transco when they come out.  Within six months of leaving prison they are fully productive and are earning £18,000.  According to Transco the ex prisoners “are a lot less trouble than our graduates”.  And the icing on the cake?  A reoffending rate of just 7% versus up to 86% for young offenders in general.

Cheryl Gillam MP, shadow prisons minister, spoke well and the good thing about such a small meeting was the opportunity for more discussion.  I have accepted her offer of accompanying her on her next prison visit.  I did wince a bit though when she compared prison overcrowding to the cramped nature of her dorm at Cheltenham Ladies College...

My contribution to the Economy debate

At each of the main debates the floor is open to delegates to make two minute speeches.  I got called to speak in the economy debate on the first afternoon and said the following:

“Last week the IMF said that Britain would need to raise taxes or cut spending. Earlier this year they said that it was not clear that extra spending was achieving the desired results with value for money.

I have two observations to make from the world of business.  First, in any substantial budget you can find up to 5% savings without too much pain.  That is what we need to do to reassure the public that taxes won’t rise under the Conservatives.

Second, if my company demanded significant increases in customers spending to improve service we would cease to exist.  In business you are lucky if no more is asked of you for the same money. More and more customers demand better services at reduced costs.

There are countless ways of applying this strategy to government.  For example the Small Businesses Federation blame the skills shortage for delays and rising costs.  I see the consequences of this in Camden where council works take forever and too many young people lack skills and jobs.

Why is it this government’s policy to arm so many young people with worthless degrees instead of offering them decent apprenticeships in worthwhile and wee remunerated trades?  It is easier, apparently, to bring in limitless numbers of skilled people from abroad.  That is both costly and unfair.  It leaves too many people on benefits that could and should be working whilst creating an influx of new people putting pressure on housing, schools and health services.

One of many examples that make up the case for a low tax economy with an emphasis on value for the money spent that only the Conservative Party has the will and mission to implement.”

In Conclusion

The mood in Bournemouth was optimistic in spite of the polls as I said earlier.  The party’s private and independent polling carried our in 163 key marginals tells a better story than the national polls - putting us on 38%, Labour on 32% and the Liberal Democrats on 22%. 

The press comment improved as the week went on but was never more than cautiously favourable.  Michael Brown of the Independent and an ex Conservative MP, attracted opprobrium for his articles proclaiming the demise of the party.  The reality of our situation in my view is that there is a tremendous amount of work still to be done, not just to win the next election but to improve the party’s image and it’s intellectual standing.   I agree with our focus on crime, immigration and the protection of our national parliament from further erosion from Brussels.   But we must continue to develop our policies on health and education and appeal to the centre ground as well.  We need to continue to attract new blood into the party.

One of the best outcomes at the next election regardless of what the overall result is will be the election of some of our best candidates.  At last there will be more Conservative MPs who will come across on television as young, dynamic and in touch with modern Britain.  Those to watch in my view are Nick Boles (Brighton), Michael Gove (Surrey Heath), Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet), Jeremy Hunt (Surrey West) and Ian Dale    (Norfolk North). 

Meanwhile

Back in Holborn & St Pancras...  we were absolutely delighted to hear that Silla Carron won the Nationwide Building Society’s ‘Award for Voluntary Endeavour’ while we were in Bournemouth.  This prestigious national award is given to the best contribution to the community selected out of many examples from all over the country. John Walter who shared her success at the awards ceremony Lord’s Cricket Ground on Wednesday of last week nominated Silla for the award.  We send our warmest congratulations to Silla.