This year’s conference is a vital stepping stone in our Party’s campaign ahead of the upcoming General Election. We are using it to present our team to the country and the message that we can deliver real change.
The agenda covers all the most important building blocks of our agenda for government. On Monday the focus will be on fixing our broken politics, on Tuesday we focus on the economy, on Wednesday on our broken society.
Thursday includes keynote speeches from William Hague and David Cameron. Anyone who wants to see the flesh on the bones of our policies should be at Conference.
This Conference will undoubtedly be our biggest Party Conference in decades with a wider range of events in the fringe, in the exhibition hall and in our new retail hall than ever before.
Emma Pidding, President of the National Convention, will be chairing the Conference. There is more time for contributions from volunteers than we have had for years so we hope there will be some great contributions from potential politicians of the future – as well as from the current crop!
The National Convention meets on Sunday 4 October before the start of Conference and is open to all 850 senior volunteers in the Party who are Convention Members. We will be reviewing our plans to grow the Party, to improve our efficiency and to offer our members more. I am delighted that Eric Pickles and David Cameron will be at this meeting to set the tone for Conference.
We have seen some important and exciting conferences in recent years. We aim to make this one the springboard to a successful General Election Campaign, and most importantly a successful Conservative Government. I do hope as many of you as possible will join us.
Comment by Paul C Wynn on October 3, 2009 at 12:38 pm
This will certainly be our most important conference for a decade and judging by the contacts I’ve received, our best supported.
Best of luck to you and Emma for a successful conference, hope to catch you during the week.
Comment by James Bertlin on October 3, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Welcome to Manchester and with eager anticipation, I look forward to a memorable and positive conference that will awaken my interest n the Conservative Party.
I particularly look forward to hearing the constructive, cost effective policies that the Leadership have in place for the future which are practical for implementation and not simply ideas that will be a list of sound bites that might appeal to the electorate.
I sincerely hope that the main Conference Speakers do NOT follow the example of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Lib-Dem Leader Nick Clegg who in their respective speeches slated the opposition parites. Most people irrespective of political colour are fully aware of the current problems that effect them, so there is no need to emphasise them and apportion blame accordingly. Let’s simply hear what the Conservatives are actually going to do across the board that may not necessarily appeal to all, but certainly for the majority, to make the changes that will make Great Britain, great again sooner rather than later.
James Bertlin
Comment by Alison Thurgood on October 3, 2009 at 7:09 pm
I have voted only for, and been a membr of the Conservative Pary for many, many years, but the question of loss of democracy to the European Parliament alarms me and I do not feel that David Cameron has fully explained his position on this problem. I hope that I will be given a reassuring answer at the Tory Conference particularly as the Irish have been bullied into a yes vote.
Comment by Stephen Garrett. on October 4, 2009 at 2:41 pm
‘The case for change’? Yet more flannel from one of the established gang of three political parties.
Why not stop messing about – why not go for some REAL CHANGE and commit to the recreation of an English Parliament with at least the same powers as the Scottish model? The House of Lords could then be handed over to be a SMALL federal Parliament to decide on defence, foreign policy, etc…
There! I’ve just saved millions while at the same time given 50 million people a national democratic voice.
At a stroke we’d get smaller, CHEAPER and more accountable governance, solve the English Question, stop politicians responsible for devolved ministries (like health and education) from trying to give the impression that their responsibilities are UK wide when they are definitely only England centric. Oh, and the PM can stop pretending that he is responsible for those issues in his own constituency as well!
Westminster currently spends 70% of its time debating English-only business – and MPs from Wales, N.I. and Scotland currently exert massive influence on the government to gain financial favours (most notably those from N.I.). In effect, they are voting on English issues not for the benefit of the English people but for the extra Celt-Gelt they can extract from a desperate and under seige PM. This is neither democratic nor fair!!
An English Parliament WOULD be fair and it would redress a democratic outrage! England, the founder of the modern two tier parliamentary system, the oldest nation state in Europe is currently THE ONLY country in the whole of Europe without our own national government – how shameful is that!??
An English Parliament is not a gift, it is not an issue which can be given to Ken Clarke so he can waffle for 3 years then bring out a solution that insults the intellegence of an Ameoba – it is a birth right. It is mine and 50 million others in England!
If national democracy is good enough for Wales, N.I. and Scotland then it is good enough for us too.
It is absolutely appalling that we should invade Iraq and Afghanistan in order to bless them with democracy when here at home, 50 million people are left to wallow in a tartan dictatorship led by the man from Kirkcaldy.
Shame on the lot of you!!!!
ENGLISH PARLIAMENT NOW!!!
Comment by Brian Mooney on October 4, 2009 at 5:03 pm
I can’t see how you can deliver ‘real change’ when most of are laws and policies are decided at EU level, including through the back door. The European Court decided that much foreign policy is implied by domestic (increasingly read ‘EU’) policy since 1970.
Nor can you just return lost policy to domestic level – that goes against the EU rulebook, and we can be fined heavily for any non-compliance.
The public desparately wants a change from New Labour, but if it is stuck with largely the same policies – ‘Blue Labour’ – many people will be tempted by protest vote parties or just stay at home.
Comment by J. on October 5, 2009 at 11:32 am
Dear Conservatives,
Can you please explain something to me about your intended Cut in Incapacity Benefit for over half a million people.
People who claim to lead, should always lead from the front. Can you please explain, clearly, why MP’s of all Parties could not lead by taking a Cut in Salaries of £500:00 per week? That way, you would at least be hitting those who can afford it, as apposed to those who can’t.
You could also suggest taking away all of the Expenses paid to MP’s and saving money from the public purse that way. After all, the ordinary people of this country, who you claim you are there to represent, don’t get Expenses to help them cope.
Could you please reply personally, explaining why there two things could not be done!
P.S. I am not in receipt of Incapacity Benefit, but I know injustice when I see it!
Comment by Bob Burdett on October 8, 2009 at 4:24 pm
I stood for Luton North when we lost to labour. it was a sad day, but to be truthfull at the time we did not put up much of a fight, infact the usual candidates were replaced by people like me just so they could keep face in defeat,or so it would appear.however I did manage to pole more votes than the other two Conservative candidates one of which now sits on the council, so I believe.I’m retired now and have just listened to Davids speach,I was slightly scepticle before but after listning intently(disregarding journalistic comments after)I think we are now on our way to rebuilding this great United Kingdom of ours. lets not forget all the people rich and poor, we are a joint community and must work together to achieve a greater living standard for all and I honestly think that is your goal GOOD LUCK! you have my vote and for what its worth, my backing.
P.S.I think it would be a good idear if some of these local councilors were checked out now with their high earnings for doing nothing and their backgrounds rechecked so as not to jepordise the hard work of other conservative members at a later stage.
PPS forgive the spelling and grammer I was brought up under Labour rule.
Comment by Gordon Farrell on October 8, 2009 at 8:31 pm
The prime objective for our government is to improve the quality of life for the citizens and to achieve this by taking care of health, education, security and the economy.
There are no other priorities. Every policy proposal should be assessed against these 4 headline priorities. Issues like immigration, CO2 and the greenhouse effect, EU ratification etc should all have an assessment by the 4 Ministries responsible for health, education, security and economy.
If we talk about transparency, I’d suggest we should see the assessment by each of these Ministries. This is far more important than tansparency on expenses.