Cameron At His Best

When Cameron took the party reins he devolved responsibility for preparing party proposals on a number of important issues to experienced colleagues many of whom had been under-valued for years. One such initiative is the Democracy Taskforce report which Ken Clarke has overseen and recently launched.

I particularly like the plans to elect Select Committee chairmen and the ability for 10 Downing Street petitions to force issues onto the Parliamentary agenda. A chat between Ken & Dave is up on WebCameron and if you want extended highlights you can go to youtube. If Ken's proposals go through, I might even be interested in becoming an MP - one day.

Social Conservatism

Discussing social conservatism is a minefield, but discuss it we must. Finally (and I mean finally) a consensus is forming that social attitudes are a root cause of the malaise in public services and damaging trends in government dependency, but as for responding to this with practical policies the Tories remain some way off. Matt Sinclair does a truly superb piece on this theme. In my opinion it is stunning both in its imagery and in its perceptiveness. I agree that an incredible challenge lies ahead for Cameron's Conservatives, (which I hope will be informed by IDS and other specialists) but one that can not be shirked.

Matt manages to combine intellectual rigour and an engaging style in his writing. I think this is why he topped the young conservative poll that I ran in January. Elsewhere, I fully support the call he made in February at Conservative Home for Young Conservatives to explore and develop their political ideology. I understand that Matt has now left the LSE for pastures new, but I expect him to continue to make a significant contribution to right-thinking ideas in the future. A star in the making, I'd suggest.

Birmingham 2008 & 2010!

2008 & 2010 Tory Conference

Great news. THE STIRRER has broken the news that an official announcement is due about the Tory Conference coming to Birmingham in 2008 (and 2010). If these showcase events do come to Brum, it is great opportunity and I would love the chance to show Tories from all over the country how well we host events. Apparently, it's been behind-the-scenes work of Mike Whitby (Birmingham's Tory council leader) and Neil Rami (of Marketing Birmingham) with Francis Maude that has swung things. I'm pretty sure that this excellent Xmas event attended by Francis did the city's chances no harm at all.

Birmingham & The Tories

Considering Birmingham's NEC supercasino bid didn't make it to the last eight, I have to admit that Manchester winning the prize added insult to injury. However, these snubs to Birmingham serve to contrast Labour with the Tory dedication to the region. Yesterday, Cameron's speech on multi-culturalism was given in the troubled district of Lozells and I understand that he will be visiting Birmingham again in March. Also, in the May elections we will win overall control of Solihull and overtake Labour in Birmingham as the party with the largest representation on the council.