A Cutie?

Imagine this. I get a call from a friend saying I'm in the Mail on Sunday. You what? Surely some mistake?

Then the texts and phonecalls start. The facebook inbox gets swamped. Finally around lunchtime, I see what they're talking about....

THERE IT IS: CAMERON'S CUTIES - a double page spread with me listed in the bottom right hand corner. I almost dropped my cuppa!

All I can say is, don't believe everything you read in the papers!

David Brooks acknowledges the UK's reality moment

David Brooks is an American columnist with the New York Times who has long admired the direction being taken by David Cameron. Earlier this year he contrasted Cameron's style with that of Obama and the GOP:

"we now have two models. We have the Obama model, which is technocratic, sending teams of experts to solve problems. Very centralized, actually. And then if you want the alternate model -- the Republicans in this country unfortunately have no model because they haven’t thought about it, or they haven’t thought productively about it.

But there is another model. And that is David Cameron, the British conservative leader in Britain. And he says if you’re going to be the centralized state, I’m going to be society. Capitalism is not good enough. It needs to be embedded in institutions. And you’re going to champion the technocrats in government; I’m going to champion every other institution in society, whether it’s family, career associations, every other -- the church -- every other association you can think of. I’m going to be the society party and going to make you the state party"

Today, he writes about the reality moment i.e. "That which can’t continue doesn’t. A nation can spend and spend, pile debt upon debt, but eventually there comes a reality moment when some leader emerges to say enough is enough and when decent people, looking around at themselves and their own best nature, respond by demanding a return to responsibility." Britain has reached its reality moment he says, and he praises George Osborne for a sensible and honest conference speech, setting out a series of austere measures to deal with the country's huge public debt. He also notes that the Conservative Party has "treated British voters as adults for a year now, with a string of serious economic positions".

"The key is that Osborne is not merely offering pain, but a different economic vision — different from Labour and different from the Thatcherism that was designed to meet the problems of the 1980s.

In the U.S., the economic crisis has caused many to question capitalism. But Britain has discredited the center-left agenda with its unrelenting public spending, its public development agencies and disappointing public-private investment partnerships.

Osborne and David Cameron, the party leader, argue that Labour’s decision to centralize power has undermined personal and social responsibility. They are offering a responsibility agenda from top to bottom. Decentralize power so local elected bodies have responsibility. Structure social support to encourage responsible behavior and responsible spending.

If any Republican is looking for a way forward, start by doing what they’re doing across the Atlantic."

We live in difficult economic times where the future of my generation will be determined in part by how effectively we manage to balance our public finances. In Osborne and Cameron, we have credible, incisive and strong leadership at the very top who have a vision for this country and who did not shirk during Manchester's conference from telling the British public the harsh truth about just how bad it has got and the tough measures needed ahead to bring our economy and country back into shape. It's very easy to tell people what they'd like to hear. Leadership is what I witnessed in Manchester: informing people about they need to hear and co-opting them to be full participants through the responsibility agenda.

Conference in Manchester - roll on the general election

Another year, another conference. But this really was the conference not to miss as in six months time (or less), the country will go to the polls. Delegates were looking forward to a possible Conservative victory at the next general election - indeed one of the best and well attended fringes I attended was on "What the first 100 days of a Conservative Government should look like" - but there was a real seriousness running through the entire four days. Everybody, simply everyone you spoke to or listened to, was aware of the immense challenges that an incoming Conservative Government would face:

• Rebuilding our broken economy, tackling unemployment and restoring the public finances;
• Restoring public trust in our broken political system gravely damaged by the expenses scandal; and
• Mending our broken society (anti-social behaviour to the cycle of welfare dependency).

Last year, many of the fringes I went to and was involved in related to Europe (as I was standing as a Euro Candidate) and I chose to feed some of my specific political passions: supporting the rural community, freeing up business from red tape and promoting enterprise and foreign affairs and defence issues. This year, I continued to support the European delegation - their reception on Monday was brimming with people, some former candidates and friends, and I was honoured to be introduced to Michał Kamiński, the Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists Grouping in the European Parliament. However, this time I didn't go for any particular themes as such. That said, looking at my well thumbed and annotated Conference Guide, I feel I got a lot out of the fringe nonetheless. Some of the most interesting and informative events I attended were:

• The First 100 days discussion as mentioned above;


• An excellent panel discussion organised by the Conservative Middle East Council on how a Conservative Government should approach the Middle East;


• A deeply moving and informative session run by the National Council on Palliative Care on raising public awareness about death, dying and bereavement; and


• A panel discussion relating to the "Every Disabled Child Matters" campaign to ensure that services meet the additional needs of disabled children and their families. The panel of disabled young people were joined by my own MP Mark Harper who is the Shadow Minister for Disabled People and Tim Loughton MP, Shadow Minister for Children; and


• A rather, fun interactive session on "Lucky Number 10" where Julia Clark from Ipsos MORI and Mike Smithson from http://www.politicalbetting.com/, Guido Fawkes and Eleanor Laing MP debated possible outcomes at the next general election, voting trends and the key issues for voters.

Now, I dare say that I've saved the best for last. You see, like last year, I was involved in a few fringe events. For the second year running, Simon Richards and his team at the Freedom Association have put on the fringe of fringes - the Freedom Zone - and this year it was even bigger (involving the Taxpayers Alliance, Conservative Way Forward and Conservative Home) with a very varied programme. There is a real feeling of camaraderie within the Freedom Zone, you hear a wide spectrum of views in very open debate and the additional pluses of a Feeding Zone, a Blogging Zone and an array of stallholders to visit, make the time spent there immensely worthwhile. On Monday and Tuesday, I chaired two discussions on the future of the BBC. The discussions were lively as one can imagine and we had fantastic contributions from the likes of John Whittingdale MP, the Chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee of the House of Commons; Alan Wright, the Conservative Candidate in Hartlepool and a former BBC journalist, founding member of the Advisory Committee for England for Ofcom who now runs his own media strategy consultancy; Debi Jones, the Conservative Candidate in Sefton Central who is a successful broadcaster and presenter; Tory Bear and Alex Deane, a barrister and Director of Big Brother Watch.

From left to right: Alan Wright, me, John Whittingdale MP and Debi Jones

Another aspect of the Conference was the socialising and networking. Monday in particular was packed with some fab receptions. I particularly enjoyed catching up with friends and Conservative from around West Country at our regional reception.

Conference finished with a superb speech by David Cameron. It was quite simply prime ministerial. He set out his vision for the country and what he believed in - family, community and country. I'm so glad I made the cut off of queuers to hear the speech in the main hall! There were more than a few standing ovations - none more so than the attack on Labour's record on poverty. But one key promise for the British people stuck in my mind:

"I can look you in the eye and tell you that in a Conservative Britain: If you put in the effort to bring in a wage, you will be better off. If you save money your whole life, you’ll be rewarded. If you start your own business, we’ll be right behind you. If you want to raise a family, we’ll support you. If you’re frightened, we’ll protect you.If you risk your safety to stop a crime, we’ll stand by you. If you risk your life to fight for your country, we will honour you. Ask me what a Conservative government stands for and the answer is this, we will reward those who take responsibility, and care for those who can’t."

Post-conference and good news - an ICM poll giving the Conservative Party a 19% lead, producing a Commons majority of 170. Not a bad week at all. Nope, call that an excellent week!

Mutual Aid in Worcester

Today I spent the morning in Hallow, near Worcester, canvassing votes with Harriett Baldwin, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for West Worcestershire, and her team. A by-election is being held on September 3rd as a result of a resignation in Hallow Ward on the Malvern Hills District Council.

The Conservative Party has a great local candidate in Nancy Doyle. I really enjoyed myself today and plan to return once more closer to the date of the by-election.

The Centre for Social Justice does it again

Last night I attended the annual Centre for Social Justice awards ceremony in London, which rewards innovative and effective British poverty fighters. It was inspiring and in the words of Amanda Platell who presented one award, very humbling.

The work being undertaken by these organisations is truly remarkable: fighting drug and alcohol addiction, getting young people who have fallen out of the education system back into work, rehabilitating ex-offenders into the workforce, addressing behaviour problems in children and young people (who are at risk of developing anti-social or criminal offending behaviour later in life), combating gang culture and running courses for young mums and dads to be (and this is just the work covered by those organisations that won awards on the night!).

Information on the charities that were recognised can be found at http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/client/downloads/CSJAwards%202009%20Brochure%20FINAL%20LOW%20RES.pdf.

A weekend in Stourbridge

When the European campaign ended, I like (many candidates) took some time off from campaigning to focus back on work, family and social life. Those of us involved in politics do so because we want to bring change for the better for our community and the country. Given the fact that the general election is now less than a year away, all across the country over the coming summer months, Conservative activists will be delivering leaflets, canvassing and supporting local community and Conservative events.

Last Saturday, I returned to Stourbridge to help Margot James and her incredible team in one of her Saturday campaigning sessions. The canvassing session went really well and it was lovely to catch up with the old team over a drink at the excellent Crabmill Pub on Hagley Road. I laughed a lot. With so many local councillors in attendance, we talked about numerous issues affecting local residents. It was also good to hear about Margot's many campaigns and events. She really is such a superb lady, really committed and very compassionate - I have learnt so much watching her in action over the last two years.

Then on Sunday, I joined thousands of people at Himley Hall to commemorate Armed Forces Day. A whole range of activities had been planned - I enjoyed the military vehicle display, the exhibition of wartime history and the concert by the Mercian Band immensely. It was also very touching to see the award of badges to war veterans by the Mayor of Dudley, Pat Martin. I felt really proud of those men and women. We owe them a huge debt.

I'll be back in Stourbridge in a few weeks time to help again.

A bad day at the office

I tuned into Sky for a live broadcast from Westminster where Mervyn King was speaking before the Treasury Select Committee. The Governor of the Bank of England said: "The scale of the public deficit is extraordinary at 12.5% of GDP which is a reflection of the scale of the global downturn but also that when we came into the recession, we were on a fiscal policy path that wasn't sustainable." He continued that Alastair Darling's plans to cut the national debt were not ambitious enough. Indeed, OECD figures released today showed that the UK economy is in "sharp recession" and will shrink by its fastest pace of decline since World War II. Moreover, the UK fiscal deficit is expected to rise to 14% of economic output in 2010, compared with an average of 8.75% across the group's 30 members.

Earlier in the day at Prime Minister's Question Time, David Cameron took Gordon Brown to task over his claims that capital expenditure will continue to rise until 2012. This claim is completely contradicted by figures contained in the 2009 Budget. The Government needs to be open and transparent about the true scale of the economic mire we face and how its own spending plans will be affected.

In the words of George Osborne: "This is the demolition day for Gordon Brown's tax and spending policies."

David Jones MP covers Brown's "really bad day", here.