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- Sign Douglas Carswell’s brave petition calling for Michael Martin to resign as Speaker of the House of Commons here.
- Sign the 10 Downing Street petition calling for Gordon to do Britain a favour resign here.
- Sign the Freedom Association/TaxPayers’ Alliance petition demanding full publication of MPs expenses here.
Congratulations to the York University students who organised today’s anti-anti-free markets protest and faced down the baying crowd of some 4,000 assorted G20 Leftists to defend capitalism on the steps of the Bank of England. We spot Messrs Aker and Wallace of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, and Simon Richards of The Freedom Association, and Nic Conner in the crowd.
H/T Tim Montgomerie for the pictures.
UPDATE: Nic Connor’s report of the protest at ConservativeFuture.com
On Wednesday the Young Britons’ Foundation hosted it’s annual Freedom Rally in the House of Commons. Over just four hours no less than 16 speakers from all walks of the British conservative movement addressed young activists. It was notable how many fresh faces there were – evidently YBF is reaching out further and further (are you involved with them yet?). Here follows a brief summary of what you missed.
The Rally began with Douglas Carswell MP, one of the finest Parliamentarians of his generation and co-author of The Plan: Twelve Months to Renew Britain, lamenting the unrelenting decline in liberty on these shores:
“The failure of the revolution of 1776 was that it took place on the wrong side of the Atlantic.”
European election candidate Councillor Jean-Paul Floru took up the liberty mantle from Carswell, urging the audience to remember that power derives from the people, and is not the property of governments, whom by their nature are transitory.
“Freedom is Britishness of mind”
“Politicians are only the temporary custodians of sovereignty, they are not the owners: we are!”
Another of the Conservative Party’s soundest stars, Michael Gove MP, warned us to treat the rise and spread of Islamofascism as seriously we did Nazism and Communism. Like those twin evils of the 20th Century, Islamofascism must be fought, and defeated. They were the gauntlets thrown down to our parents’ generation, this one is ours.
“There is no greater cause in politics than defending freedom.”
“When the State grows human freedom diminishes and wealth disappears.”
Dr Eamonn Butler of the Adam Smith Institute defended capitalism against the nonsense accusations that the current financial climate is proof that it has failed, and also marked the increasing spread of the database and surveillance state under Labour.
“We are home to a quarter of the world’s surveillance cameras”
Veteran Parliamentarian Ann Widdecombe asked us to think ahead and demand action on the perilous state of pension provision in this country. As youthful activists pensions might seem a far-off irrelevance to us, she said, but we need to take action now if we are to safeguard our comfort in old age.
“This Prime Minister carried out a raid on pension funds that made Robert Maxwell look like a rank amateur”
PPC Conor Burns was clearly disgusted by the protests the previous day in Luton, in which a small minority vocally denounced home-coming troops as “terrorists” and “butchers”, but saved most of his righteous fury for what Labour has wrought at home.
“You have a right to be very very angry with that this government has done to your country…you have a right to rise up and demand more.”
Major James Cleverly, (C), London Assembley Member for Bromley, gave us a realistic appraisal of life in City Hall, the victories of the Conservative administration to date in cut waste and building success; and also of the mountains yet to be climbed.
“I cut my teeth as a conservative activist in Lewisham.”
Peter Whittle of the New Culture Forum discussed the nature of the seemingly innate bias within the creative arts, urging conservatives not just to think of careers in politics, but in media too, if we are to win the culture war.
“I quite often want to smash in the television when I watch the BBC these days.”
“You [the youth] are the cultural future.”
Mark Wallace, Campaign Director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance explained his organisations surging growth in the seemingly eternal battle against the grossly wasteful spending of our taxes by all tiers of government, from council to European.
“Your council tax has doubled in the past decade, yet what do you see in return?”
Author James Delingpole gave what it was suggested had been “a fairly combative speech”, clearly too Libertarian for some attendees, and music to the ears of others. But this is exactly the majesty of events such as YBF’s Freedom Rally – to expose activists to conservative movement ideas which they will never otherwise hear. Simply sitting around agreeing with each other is not merely unproductive, it’s actively hurtful to our cause.
“I think Compassionate Conservatism is almost worse than socialism.”
“I’m relying on you people to save our country, because otherwise we are fucked.”
Conservative Party Chairman Eric Pickles MP provided the riposte to Delingpole, and had, as one might expect, some harsh words for Gordon Brown.
“Mr Brown has truly ruined this country, and in many ways the task before us is greater than Churchill’s after World War Two.”
Presenter and blogger Iain Dale reminded the audience that politics is/can be enjoyable as well as noble!
“You can have so much fun in an election campaign.”
The peerless John Redwood MP again led the charge against the attacks Labour has made upon liberty and democracy in this country over its 12 year reign of terror.
“We want the government to be a good servant rather than a bad boss.”
Greg Hands MP began to draw the event towards its close, reminicisng about his experiences and advising aspiring politicians to follow his route and do something in the private sector for a good decade before turning to politics.
“I managed to miss the entirety of the John Major years.”
Conservative Future National Chairman Michael Rock was the penultimate speaker, highlighting the ‘politicization’ of the youth movement, as opposed to being purely a leafletting too for the Party.
“It’s almost a patriotic duty to oppose ID cards.”
Co-editor of ConservativeHome.com Jonathan Isaby concluded the Rally.
“The government is tearing itself apart at the moment…it really is waiting to be put out of its misery.”
ToryBear has a scandalous story which appears to expose gross wasting of money by the well respected institution that is Nottingham University; who funded what seems to have been treated as little more than a free holiday to China for their SU President. The Young Britons’ Foundation and TaxPayers’ Alliance are hot on the case.
TB writes:
The President of one of the UK’s largest student unions has admitted to “getting smashed” and “wrecking the landscape” on an official trip to China. Nsikan Edung wrote on a friend’s Facebook wall that he was having a “totally inappropriate time” on a trip in his official capacity as the President of Nottingham University Student Union. He had flown to China as part of a project to establish cultural ties. In his manifesto aims Edung stated that building up a relationship with Nottingham University’s China campus was at the top of his priorities. It seems to TB that no one bothered to ask him quite how he was going to do it though.
The outrage felt on campus has spread to those outside the university who hate to see money wasted in such a ridiculous fashion. Tim Aker, Grassroots Coordinator of the TaxPayers’ Alliance and Nottingham graduate, said:
“This is a ridiculous use of the University’s funds. With his union’s members struggling to pay their bills, it’s wrong that this supposed student leader is partying on the other side of the world at taxpayers’ expense. Students are being forced to pay costly fees to go to university, but it seems some academic institutions are happy to throw money away on free jollies.”
CF and YBF’s Christian May, slammed Edung’s jaunt as a complete waste of money.
“Did this trip, paid for by the university, add any value to the education of ordinary Nottingham students? I very much doubt it. These are the kind of publicly funded jollies that must be stamped out during a recession. People are very loose with money when it isn’t their own. Just look at Derek Simpson of the Unite Union – living in luxury whist his members lose their jobs.”
TYC has seen a press release from YBF in which “A source close to Nottingham University Student University claims that plans are underway to hold Edung accountable for his “inappropriate boasts” and to press university authorities to take further action. The source added, “this is what happens when union officials get too big for their boots.”
ACT NOW: Are professors on your campus curtailing academic freedom by prteaching left-wing bias? Do you have a tale of student union sleaze to tell? Pass your tips confidentially to YBF’s Intelligence Service – because students deserve a free academy, and a finanically responsible academy.
Congratulations to Michael Rock, one year on from his successful campaign which saw him elected Conservative Future National Chairman, along with the incumbent National Management Executive.
The year has seen much progress within Conservative Future, from the hotly debated reforms, to the creation of Regional Chairmen, and the regionalisation of campaigning, instead of the old, impractical practice of bussing activists at the crack of dawn up and down the country to flood one ’special’ seat.
Conservative Future has also fought several successful by-elections such as Crewe and Nantwich, Henley and Haltemprice and Howden.
But here at TYC we still maintain that the most important long-term initiative from the current executive has been the Student Life Tours, organised by Student Life chairman Patrick Sullivan.
These tours saw centre-right, pro-freedom organisations such as the TaxPayers’ Alliance, Freedom Association, NO2ID, plus MEPs, bloggers and more visiting campuses up and down the country. We believe that conservatism is a broad church, and its strength lies in its constituent organisations who unite around a single doctrine: freedom. Exposing students to fresh thinking on liberty can only serve to further our ultimate cause.
Patrick, we hope there’s a second round of tours in the works!
TYC took part in several of the stops on the 2008 tour and you can read our coverage here.
There are always plenty of opportunities to get involved with the issues you’re passionate about. Today alone these popped up on our radar:
- Young Countryside Alliance are currently looking for volunteers to set up ‘branches’ of the YCA countrywide. If you are interested in raising awareness of the countryside through fundraising events and social gatherings in your area, please do not hesitate to contact Chloe Finch.
- Students for Freedom are looking for people that wishes to contribute to the Students4Freedom.com, and air news and views from different perspectives. Fancy getting involved with Britain’s premier Libertarian youth organisation? Then email chairman@students4freedom.com.
- University of York Freedom Society recently launched. Does your campus have a pro-freedom student organisation campaigning for civil liberties and the rolling back of the state? It yes, are you involved? If not, what are you going to do about it? Perhaps you ought to contact the Freedom Association and offer your services.
- The Young Britons’ Foundation held a training workshop on Birmingham University’s campus for the Conservative Future branch. Have you arranged political technology training for your branch yet? After the workshop members took part in a candle-lit protest to highlight the cruelty of EU trade policies – did you know that according to the Centre for New Europe, the EU’s trade barriers are responsible for 275 deaths every hour in the third world. This means that a person dies every 13 seconds thanks to the EU’s protectionist economic policy – which prevents African and third world farmers from competing in the free market?
- Leicester University CF have just launched a blog. Blogging is a valuable contribution that anyone can make, promoting your work to a wider audience, spreading awareness, establishing contacts and building support. Would your organisation benefit from getting involved in blogging? Or how about you write something for an exisiting blog, such as Students for Freedom (above) or the CF NME blog, which is always looking for articles from members – just email Richard Jackson.
- The TaxPayers’ Alliance have just announced a protest this Thursday in central London in opposition to the EU’s disastrous fisheries policy. All materials are provided and there are free t-shirts for the keenest activists. All you have to do is turn up! Details on Facebook.
There are always opportunities to get involved, but the onus is on activists to make good on that title and get active.
Hopefully, like us, you’re suitably refreshed after the Christmas break and ready to return to the front line in ‘09. So to focus your thoughts, here are a few ideas for political New Year Resolutions you might care to strive to achieve.
Invite a conservative movement speaker to your campus/branch. Think beyond MPs, MEPs and PPCs, to offer your members a fresher viewpoint. Our movement has a wealth of talented intellectuals covering every field. The Young Britons’ Foundation (YBF) can help you find book speakers through their Speakers Panel.
Towards the end of last year YBF launched packs for campuses to help them do just this. The packs include 10 copies of the ‘Behind Our Troops’ poster, plus:
* Advice on pressuring the University to erect memorials for fallen alumni (of any conflict)
* Advice on holding fundraising events for Help for Heroes
* Advice on working with the OTC to organise welcome home parades for troops
* A draft motion of support to put to the Student Union, or a draft motion to overturn existing anti military policy
* Advice on holding a service of thanksgiving for servicemen and women in the university chapel
* A 10 point briefing note for pro military activism
To request yours, email Christian, YBF’s Director of Operations, and set about achieving the same success as the University of Sheffield and Northumbria University recently have.
In today’s media age you can’t afford not to have insider knowledge about preparing a press release, or appearing on TV, just as much as you can’t afford not to be skilled in campaigning tactics. YBF run a yearly activist conference in the autumn, and regularly bring their workshops to campuses. As ever, contact email Christian for more, check their events programme online and subscribe their Facebook group for the latest invites.
So make sure you’re in touch with as many other conservatives as possible, get on their mail lists and sign up to their organisations. Many organisations are free to join, such as The TaxPayers’ Alliance, and The Countryside Alliance (for under 19s). Others, understandably, have fees, but often do student rates or deals.
And, dare I say it, you could always start a blog…(if you do, let us know!)
As always, we’re keen to hear from you. What are your organisation’s New Year Resolutions?
On Friday 7th TYC was fortunate enough to be able to participate in what for us will be one final stop on the CF Coalition Campus Tour – Nottingham University. Once again the turnout exceeded that of the previous stop, and the panel was broader than ever. In attendance at Nottingham were Simon Richards of The Freedom Association, Tim Aker of The TaxPayers’ Alliance, myself as co-editor of TYC, Patrick Sullivan – CF’s National Campaign Director and Student Life Chairman, and Roger Helmer MEP.
The hallmark of these tours has been the quality of questions we’ve received from the audience, underscoring the rich pool of talent and promise the next generation of conservatives comprises. Chairman Will Bickford-Smith ably chaired the meeting, ensuring a broad scope of questions reached the panel.
A few highlights which hadn’t been asked at previous stops included,
- Is Barack Obama America’s Tony Blair? For our part we submit no, he isn’t. This wasn’t, as come commentators have called it, a landslide – Obama won roughly 7% more of the popular vote than McCain, and the Democrats have failed to secure enough seats to prevent the Republicans filibustering. Certainly, the next two years up until the mid-terms in 2010 will be hard for Right in America, and this election was certainly the ushering in of a new era, but it wasn’t an American 1997 moment.
- Has Brown bounced back? We feel it’s nothing stronger than a political dead-cat bounce. Glenrothes isn’t game-changing for project Brown, much as they’ve tried to capitalise on it. Brown may come into his own in a crisis – but he creates them himself – and vox pops show voters equate Brown with the credit crisis. The polls show the Conservatives consistently not only leading, but leading sufficiently to win a General Election; and whilst in the past month our lead has dipped, it should be noted that includes a correct for anomalous polls such as our 52% position, and that our lead is growing again.
- What to do about the seemingly impending breakup of the Union. Tongue firmly in cheek we mused that if the SNP want to turn Scotland into the East Germany of the British Isles, let them, and when it fails, welcome reunification. More seriously, the devolution project has gone unchecked and Scotland allowed to drift. The Scottish Parliament has been allowed to assume the trappings and stylings of statehood. If an incoming Conservative administration wants to save the Union then it must get a grip on devolution once and for all.
In the words of Chairman Will, this event was his society’s “biggest event of the semester, if not the year.“
Next stop for the tour will be Durham, on November 10th. Sadly TYC can’t attend, but we encourage as many of you as can make it to do so.
On Friday, 31st October, whilst most people were out celebrating Halloween, a panel of leading conservatives were at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, battling with the ghoulish European Union and preaching the exorcism of the demon, tax. On this second stop in the current tour the panel consisted of Simon Richards of the Freedom Association, Phil Booth of NO2ID, myself as co-editor of TYC, Tim Aker for the TaxPayers’ Alliance, PPC Anthony Little and Patrick Sullivan, the CF National Campaign Director and Student Life Chairman.
The contrast with our previous stop, in Exeter, a week earlier, was clear. The Exeter crowd had drawn up a varied selection of questions; the UEA students, some in unholy festive garb, were predominately interested in the EU and taxation – so much for students not caring about tax. The common factor, though, was the quality of questions, ranging from the small details of the FairTax, to levels of European integration (or, preferably, none).
Also in common with Exeter the event was well attended, and the debate passionate. It was also heartening to see dissent amongst the panel, and the students, which ensured we had insufficient time to thrash out all the points we’d have liked to have made.
Once again the Freedom Association generously held a Free Spirits event in the student bar afterwards, and raffled off a bottle of finest ‘Free Spirits’ label gin to one lucky student.
Hats off to chairman Paul Wells for hosting the evening and keeping the debate moving along; and, as ever, to Patrick Sullivan for organising this fantastic tour. Onwards to Nottingham!
Refreshed and reinvigorated at YBF5, Tarasyn has this insiders report on the British activist conference of the year.
As soon as we arrived at the glorious Wellington College we had lunch with Rt Hon David Davis. He spoke with passion about how he acted on his beliefs when he stepped down from the front bench and fought his by-election over 42 day detention for terror suspects; a move in the name of his commitment to freedom and against the growing erosion of our civil liberties.
Career implications were not the priority, and in Mr Davis’ words, as politicians we work towards making a “better place for our children to live than the world we were born into“.
After having stoked our passions for freedom we moved onto the lecture room and were met with the sight of two human brains, one shocking unhealthy belonging to a child subjected to extreme neglect.
It was now time for Rt Hon Iain Duncan-Smith to rock our social consciences; emphasising the point that the term “social justice” came from the conservative movement. As much as we are passionate about our civil rights, beliefs and the legacy of Thatcher, we are also working for the future of our country’s most vulnerable.
We need a social revolution to tackle the social injustices within our communities and make the changes that need to happen. I came away from this speech with a confirmed assurance that Social Action should be at the forefront of the conservative movement.
Dr Eamonn Butler from the Adam Smith Institute covered the economy, highlighting how the abandonment of many of the principles, established by Adam Smith, by the current government is without a doubt why we are in the struggle we are facing today. “Boom and bust” was never eliminated by Gordon Brown, and boy are we in a bust!
The Second Annual Eric Forth Memorial Dinner
This award is named in honour of a man who created a supreme example to us all by sticking to what he believed in – Eric Forth MP. It was an honour for TYC to be short-listed for the award, and I will sit the engraved plaque with pride on my desk, and in thanks for a man who is a mighty inspiration.
The truly deserving winners, Matthew Sinclair and and Mark Wallace, were thanked for their tremendous work with the TaxPayers’ Alliance, an association now bigger than the Green Party, and proof that successfully promoting the conservative movement goes beyond allegiance to any one political party. Matt and Mark have shown this through holding fast to a core principle they believe in, and providing a platform for anyone who is fed up with the tax ridden bureaucracy environment our current government has created for us.
Celebrations were in order and the Wellington College Social Club was just the place!
Tomorrow, day two of the fifth Young Britons’ Foundation activist conference
