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!