Tuesday, 21 October, 2008
 | Chairman's View of Party Conference |
 |
I thought that this year’s Party Conference in Birmingham was a great success and the main points to strike me were:-
¶David Cameron is clearly a strong Leader.
·There has been a policy decision to present the Conservatives as an alternative government and therefore to set out their potential policies. If Labour want to pinch them it will be perfectly clear that they have done so.
¸The financial turmoil we are in was a clear distraction from the Conference so far as the outside world was concerned but David Cameron and George Osborne dealt with it professionally and with dignity, both making excellent speeches.
¹There have been great efforts to make the Conservatives more compassionate and to examine in depth the problems in what they call A Broken Society. The work is admirable but there is some danger of over egging the Broken Society epithet.
ºThe selection of young Prospective Parliamentary Candidates who spoke was of a high standard, including some first class women with whom any comparison with Blair’s Babes would be invidious.
The plans and proposals at 2 above are set out in detail in pamphlets including “Reconstruction - Plan for a strong economy” and “Renewal - Plan for a better NHS” copies of which and Executive Summaries can be obtained from Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ).
| Conservatives Chosing Team for Unitary Elections |
|
This is the name of the Unitary Authority which will be established for Wiltshire, succeeding the present County Council and four District Councils.
The latter will cease on 31st March 2009 and elections for the Wiltshire Council will be on 4 June 2009, the same day as the European Elections (see over). Overall in Wiltshire the present 250 councillors will be replaced by 98 all in single seat electoral divisions. Our Association has 19 divisions and we are currently in the process of selecting Conservative candidates to fight all these seats.
This is proving in some ways to be a sad process since it inevitably means that a number of present councillors who have excellent records of involvement in and with their local communities will not succeed. Our Executive Council has appointed a Selection Committee from its membership comprising the following: me (Chairman), Penny Brown (Deputy Chairman Political), –Dirk Russell (Agent) and Cllr Caroline Morrison (Deputy Chairman – Membership) to arrange the selections including special general meetings of the local membership should there be two applications for the same division. The process has just concluded for Winterslow and Alderbury & Whiteparish and is being organised for Bourne & Woodford Valley Division. By the middle of November all the candidates will have been selected.
Contested Selections
Winterslow – Selected on: 15 Oct
Alderbury & Whiteparish – Selected: 22 Oct
Bourne & WoodfordValley – Selection: 4 Nov
Uncontested Selections
Amesbury East
Amesbury West
Bemerton
Downton & Ebble Valley
Fisherton & Bemerton Village
Fovant & Chalke Valley
Harnham
Landford & Redlynch
Laverstock
St Mark & Bishopdown
St Francis & Stratford
St Paul
St Edmund & Milford
St Martin & Cathedral
Till & WylyeValley
Wilton & LowerWylyeValley
| Salisbury Agent Becomes County Agent |
|
On 1 October, our Agent, Dirk Russell, was appointed as the Group Agent for Wiltshire.
Since the boundary changes came into effect the Association teamed up with the new South West Wiltshire Association, which was born out of the former Westbury Constituency and the western wards of Salisbury. Dirk ran the District Council elections for both Salisbury and West Wiltshire from the Morrison Hall (88 candidates in total). Although we lost control in Salisbury, the local Conservatives took control of West Wiltshire for the first time in 20 years. He has been heavily engaged with South West Wiltshire especially with two by-election wins in former LibDem wards in Trowbridge.
Dirk has key responsibility for the Wiltshire Council elections and, in particular, for running the campaign for Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones (aka The Black Farmer) in the key battleground seat of Chippenham.
This constituency is the fifth seat of Wiltshire, created in the boundary changes. Thrasher & Rallings, professors at the University of Plymouth, have calculated that this seat would be LibDem if the votes are the same as they were in the last general election.
Dirk will be working two days a week from the offices just outside of Chippenham whilst three days a week in Salisbury.
I would urge everyone to offer assistance for the Chippenham campaign as the LibDems are working hard to win this seat and we must not allow them to gain a foothold in our county.
| European Elections - Set for 4 June |
|
The elections to the European Parliament are to be held on 4 June 2009.
I think it is fair to suggest that there has been some apathy about these elections in the past. However, provided we elect the right candidates it is they who are at the forefront in trying to help negotiate and agree policies which take account of the British interest. As Brussels expands its scope this role becomes increasing important.
The six Conservative candidates for the South West Region, in order of priority (dictated by prior selection by senior officers throughout the Region e.g. me) are:-
1. Giles Chichester MEP; 2. Julie Girling; 3. Ashley Fox; 4. Michael Dolley; 5. Don Collier; 6. Zehra Zaidi
Giles Chichester has been unequivocally cleared of the accusations of impropriety in his funding arrangements and I have seen a letter from the Secretary General of the EU stating this.
| Robert Key Celebrates 25 years as Salisbury MP |
|
On 20 September the Association held a “Thank You” party for Robert Key to celebrate 25 years as our Member of Parliament. He was presented with an engraved Victorian Silver bowl, whilst his wife, Sue, was presented with a bouquet of flowers. The presentation was made on behalf of the Association by the President, Lord Margadale of Islay (left).
Robert is the longest serving MP for Salisbury since the great Reform Act which abolished the Rotten Boroughs. Including the Rotten Borough of Old Sarum, he is the third longest serving MP.
In January Robert will be presented with a water colour, especially commissioned by local Artist, Bill Toop.
Next Page
| 
Blog RSS feed