Showing posts with label YBF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YBF. Show all posts

Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Harlow Road Trip - The Full Story


And now for the story people across the land have been waiting for. Yes here is the full lowdown of the #Harlow #RoadTrip2015.

Mahyar is soon becoming CFs glamour model.

The Harlow Road Trip has to be up there with some of the best campaigning days I have ever done. There is not much better than being with friends whilst leafleting with a free curry and wine later. I spent half the time larking around with Top Tory Mahyar, who is becoming more and more like CF's glamour model every single day.

Rob Halfon in his famous 'mustard' suit.

But to be fair I didn't need always the free stuff or my CF friends from across the country. I am always happy to help out Rob Halfon MP who is leading a revolution in the Conservative Party. He is there on the front lines of politics waving a huge blue flag saying 'up the workers'. The Conservative Party is becoming the Workers Party, a change which is highly important so it really starts to properly represent the people of the country. I think we owe a lot of this to Rob and we must thank him greatly for that. And now with the backing of the 'Halfon hundreds' (as the local media have dubbed us) and organisations like YBF, named the 'SAS of Conservativism' by Rob, we can make the change to become the Workers Party.


The day started early for everyone. I got up just after six o'clock to get the train to Harlow. Most others started out at Liverpool Street Station.




Almost 100 people came to help Rob. For most CFers it was a choice between Spring Forum or the Harlow Road Trip. Most choose the Road Trip, a very wise move. There was very good representation from across the country too. Someone came from Edinburgh, I came from Nottingham, Alexandra from Manchester but obviously there were loads from London.

The Halfon Hundreds

In the morning we were all sent out to deliver the Harlow sun newspaper across all of the town. As I have said we got a lot done. There are plenty of snaps of the morning deliveries. One thing I must say is that Harlow is the easiest place I have ever delivered in. The letterboxes are so lightweight and do not in general have thick brushes. Thanks for making our lives easier people of Harlow.





Yes Victoria you made it onto #ThingsElliottSays after your persistence.

The youngest deliverer on the day.


Alexandra went leafleting in her platforms. Groovy baby.

Of course there were great stories from Twitter too.



We then stopped for Lunch where Vicky Ford MEP, who had been campaigning all day, told us she was "proud to be Rob Halfon's page three girl in the Harlow Sun". She also again reiterated the point that the Conservatives need to work hard for the European elections. Our relationship with Europe at the moment is at a pivotal point. With the referendum coming up soon we need competent people stopping Europe taking more powers away from the UK. I'd hate to see between now and 2017 feckless UKIP MEPs, who just want to join the gravy train of expenses, ruin this country  by not doing anything about Brussels regulation. Who will fight clause by clause for Britain in every new piece of legislation? Only the Conservatives with decent MEPs like Vicky do this.



We then went out for the Big Photo. I hope Labour are getting nervous by the amount of volunteers. With only a little planning the Conservatives can muster hundreds of activists to go to any part of the country. All we need as an incentive is a good MP and a little bit of fun.


We then went out for another afternoon session of canvassing. I went out with the Only Way Is Canning, Lord Mocroft, Alexandra and Top Tory Tousi to see how Rob is received on the door in Harlow. We were surprised by the sheer amount of Conservatives in Harlow. We found that most people are solid Tories, it was a very good session. One person even said they were thankful Rob had spent time in taking them to Parliament. Rob clearly puts in the effort as a constituency MP.


Mahyar wants you to come on the next Road Trip.


Sad that the days campaigning had come to the end.
We then hit the bar. Thanks goes to Mark Clarke for the free drinks.



Rob also organised a pretty decent curry for us in a local restaurant. At the end of the meal Rob gave a thank you speech in which he praised our hard work massively. He also mentioned Emily Burditt, who I proudly say is a NUCA Alumni and now Rob's fantastic office worker. Emily as a reward for all her hard work was recently awarded the parliamentarian assistant of the year award by the Speaker. Very well done to her.


Rob Halfon was also presented with the special YBF Golden Dolphin badge. There have only been ten made of these badges and Rob was the first recipient. I'm not surprised by this because Rob is one of the soundest MPs in living memory.

NUCA's new treasurer Sam having a great time with the Hoff.


We then went clubbing and Rob proved himself to be sound in other ways too.


I really enjoyed the Harlow Road Trip. I will certainly be going to the next one whether it's in St Ives of Aberdeen. Thanks must go to all those who organised this day from Rob to Mark or the Harlow team to Rob's staff. Well done to you all.

Thank you Harlow team.
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Tuesday, 17 December 2013

#YBFX


As you know, if you read my blog regularly or are an ultrasound Conservative, I have been to the YBF conference. Sound!

Unless you are accepting a knighthood from the Queen, you must make sure you are at Churchill College with Donal Blaney and YBF chums for next years conference. The YBF conference is arguably better than the Tory Party one, there is certainly more debate and better food. I really enjoyed YBF and so did everyone else in the NUCA contingent.


So what exactly happened you may ask? Well that would be telling because YBF operates under the Chatham House rule, in other words I cannot relate who said what etc. . However, I have special permission from Mr Donal Blaney to say what did happen and tell you all the fun events (and we're not skipping on the 'sound', 'shame' and 'resign').



The conference kicked off with a great speech, as ever, by the one and only Peter Botting. It really inspired us all to become the revolutionaries he encouraged.


Indeed we were inspired very much by the Botting's revolutionary tweet as he said he would randomly pick out of the people who retweeted the above comment one person who he would give a bottle of something special. Needless to say the Botting revolution was more successful than the Brand one.

Another great discussion of the day was about the moral case to lower taxes. Sound! In my opinion people should keep as much as their money as possible, especially if they have low or middling incomes. Why should we take money off people when it effects their lives noticeably? I was not the only person to believe this.

Never forget this, as was pointed out on the day.


During Friday evening we went to the Thatcher and Churchill archives in the college library. It was great to see documents which made such an impact on the world, for example the original copy of Churchill's Finest Hour speech. There was also a letter sent by Margaret Thatcher replying to a young boy who said he believed her to be a good person like Jesus.

In the Thatcher and Churchill archives.

This tour was universally popular and the YBF crew must be greatly congratulated for there organisation of this.



Following this there was a slap up meal to commemorate the passing of Eric Forth MP, a conviction politician who never backed down from the defence of freedom. Eric Forth MP was a great supporter of YBF in the early days so I am sure, looking down from up above, he would be pleased to see how many people are being taught by YBF to stand up for their values.


At the dinner Jennifer Salisbury Jones, of Bristol, gin and NUS leaving fame, won the Eric Forth Memorial award for her campaign for Bristol Uni to leave the NUS. JSJ has done so well that she got elected to be the NUS rep for the university; I thus think the award is pretty deserved. I think we're all waiting with anticipation for a share of the £50,000 amount of gin that Jenny promised.



The night however was young and so we had the odd refreshments. It was great fun, except the hour ramble around Cambridge David Cowan led me on so we could find so more alcohol after the bar had closed. Resign! But this tweet made us all a lot happier.


Hear Hear! Sound!

The night definitely had its effects on everyone in the morning too.





But we had a really great speaker to cure all our hangovers. Andrew Macleod, fellow Aussie, ex Labour member and former manager at the UN talked to us about the trade vs aid debate. Companies are the ones investing most into the lives of the poorest in the world and doing so much great work. Furthermore companies measure by results and are more effectively using their money to get people jobs and a better life with no poverty. We should be backing 'development investment' not 'development aid'. In my opinion this was the best speech of the conference.



There were other great speakers up to lunchtime with Ian Dale conducting a media training session, Jonathan Isaby who now heads up the Tax Payers Alliance (Sound), and Charlotte Vere who gave a great debate about women in the Conservative Party.

More great speakers were still to come however. The post lunch slot was filled by Robert Halfon MP who inspired us by talking about how we should do to things in the Conservative Party. Firstly, frame our arguments in a language ordinary people can understand to show conservative policies are helping them. Second, we must rename the Conservative Party they Workers Party to accurately portray what our party stands for. Thirdly, take the language of the Left to empathise with people. Rob also pointed out that the Smurfs are conservatives and not Marxists, Pappa Smurf is blue after all.


Comrade Steve Baker then followed to talk to us about sound money. Ultra-Sound!.



Steve really emphasised the problems we're facing in the West. Our economy, despite Gideon trying to help, isn't stopping us from having a 800% predicted national debt in 2040. I would rather have a 1% Conservative government than a 100% Labour one but we're still not doing enough. Freedom is at peril.



Chloe Smith then spoke to us all about how the Conservatives need to engage with young people, something that I think is very important. Chloe talked much about how jobs and speaking to young people is the way forward. No one was brave enough to mention Newsnight to her however.





There were at this time a complaint however, not about the speakers but the views of the stage. This complaint came from NUCA's very tall freshers rep Sam Armstrong on Twitter. Apparently this near 6 foot chap couldn't see past me, although I am 5 foot 4 inches. Perhaps it may be something to do with the fact Sam was rolling around in the seat above me in agony from the night before?



A tub thumping right wing speech was then heard from Mallory Factor. Mr Factor doesn't like the democrats and is a great freedom lover who really got the Yankees going at the conference. shouts of U-S-A were heard quite loudly for a good while.






We then had a talk that really interested #ThingsElliottSays talking about social media and blogging. It was a very good debate but I cannot help thinking some people were distracted.



But onto the second dinner, the Margaret Thatcher banquet. Some people got ready for this in an unusual way.



The dinner started very well with a smashing grace from Robert Halfon MP.



But by far the best bit of the meal was Connor Burns' speech; the best I have heard from him. There is still a moral crusade to bring about classical liberalism and its clear Connor Burns still has this passionate belief. Sound!


Many enjoyed Connor Burns' speech so much that they play Connor Burns bingo.

The meal also contained a few surprises. The biggest of the evening was not the great speeches but the food. I'm sure my sea bass was pink and salmon flavoured. Donal Blaney also was surprised by a huge YBF cake with a sparkling candle being wheeled out to celebrate 10 years of the Young Britons Foundation. All we could say to that was 10 more years.


By far the least surprising event was Oliver Cooper being awarded the Dolphin prize for ultra-soundness. Colonel Cooper is most definitely the first Conservative in charge of CF in many years.



The main prize was still to be announced however, and it was who had won Peter Botting's revolutionary prize. By shear luck the winner was NUCA's own Alex Bright. I hope he saves the expensive wine he received for a party with me in Nottingham. Hint, hint Brighty.



But the night, like the one before was still young, and plots, parties and some solid drinking still needed to take place.








Still everyone was up the next day for another round of speeches.



The Sunday started off with a foreign policy talk on Putin and his Russia. I was very interested by this as the sad thing seems to be that Russia is returning to the bad old days back in the USSR. Thanks goes to Daniel Hamilton who gave this excellent discussion.



But then Ukiper (Shame), Alderman and YBF organiser (Resign) Matt Richardson said something disgusting. Let's just say it involved a big white telephone.



Highlight of the last day was Rory Broomfield from the Freedom Association. This wasn't because of anything he said though. I think you may have pulled Rory.






But there was also love for another YBFer.






Last minute controversy also appeared at the conference with Robert Smith backing Stalin. NUCA's Robert Smith is known for taking up some very strange positions . At the #ThatcherDeabte last academic year Robert clapped for the proposition of this house regrets Mrs Thatcher. Shame!



But sadly all good things must come to an end. The conference finished at 2:30. My thanks goes to Donal Blaney and his tremendous team for an excellent #YBFX and I hope that #YBFXI is just as good if not better. If you're a conservative make sure you come to the YBF conference, if not you will miss the greatest weekend of the year.


So after a quick meal at KFC with the Colonel.



We headed back home. We were all very tired.


But some people spent their time productively on the train home.


As a last point I'm sorry this post has taken 3 days to do. I had to do some other things.


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Sunday, 15 December 2013

#TeamShadow Election Stratagem at YBF


Shadow is making plans for the next CF elections. Courtesy of @Canning_ .
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Wednesday, 11 December 2013

Fall of the Nottingham Wall


Well after the fall of the Iron Curtain across Nottingham I am finally free. My essays are over and I can now return to daily posts for #ThingsElliottSays, have you missed it? What have I learnt whilst I have been away.

1) Always contain communism to give free people hope.

2) Japan had an burgeoning democracy and that the military and bureaucracy will try gain more power even if it ends democracy.

3) The First British Empire was built on mercantalism (essentially state capitalism), what made Britain great was internal free trade built on farming.

4) Kennedy has a lot to answer for in the Vietnam War and make sure you understand your enemy, don't just wonder in and hope for the best.

So anyway its back to the normal routine commenting on the current events of the time. I will also be going back over some of the things I felt to be important recently. But don't get too comfy for I am off to YBF so will be gone Friday to Sunday (i'll give a good low down of what happened at YBF without mentioning who said what as per Chatham House rules).



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Friday, 21 June 2013

One Year Gone, Two More Years Left

Well that is one year gone at Nottingham University. I had a really great time with the NUCA chaps and the other political ventures. So let's sum up the major things of what went on.

My Room in Derby Hall is now empty, to be filled by another student next year.

The biggest thing that happened was of course the Port and Policies. I love the great and fun debate we have when and the highlight for me of this must be the 'Socialist Oppressors' and working class tone that I have taken to confuse the Left and defend the nation.

Me mid debate with very long sideburns.

The Dinners too have been great with NUCA. At Christmas we had a great feast where I was out eating and drinking for over 12 hours, a real great day. But more recently we have the end of year dinner with John Hayes which appeared on to Guido Fawkes.

Alex, Badger and  I caught after the Main Course at our excellent Christmas Dinner. 

But NUCA also took us out and about. We went to Brussels to eat lots of mussels and drinks lots of beer. Recently we turned up in London to meet Adam Afriyie, Mark Reckless and others. These were most enjoyable and the organisers in the committee deserve much thanks.

NUCA chaps with the great Emma McClarkin MEP.

There was also the CF events with the East Midlands Conference to meeting Jeremy Hunt earlier this Semester. The same time was crucial with the CF elections, I think the new exec has done a really good job so far and that they should carry on. Colonel Cooper seems to be taking CF on a very good path and hopefully he can help win a majority for 2015.

A wide mix of the CF people I have got to know or know better over this year. 

YBF, the great campaigning school, was also great fun. Having been to the December conference I had to go to their rally early in 2013. I really enjoyed all the speakers they mustered. Some like Douglas Carswell and Robert Halfon are people I think are some of the 'SAS' (to quote the great Halfon) of Westminster Politics. Thanks goes to Donal Blaney and the Team.

At the YBF Rally. Can you see me and Rob at the back?

I've been out helping the cause too campaigning in Wisbech for the County Elections, in Eastleigh with Maria Hutchings, and in Broxtowe with Anna Soubry MP. Here I got to meet some of the great Trent lot and other famous Nottingham Conservatives. This included James Spencer who I helped in his campaign to be a councillor in Wollaton West which he sadly lost. Some good news from this though is that now I am on the 2015 campaign team for Rowena Holland. People of Nottingham South vote for Rowena.

Photo Opportunity for Maria Hutchings with me Nadim, Tom and James.

Campaigning also occurred on Campus. I joined the Big Picture radio show so I can broadcast the Conservative ideology to the world and make sure even more people vote for us in 2015. I really enjoyed working with everyone on the team I wish best of luck for Jonnie, Louis and Joe and can't wait for the next year. 

Kind listener to the Big Picture texted this in once. However, I doubt I would make a very good PM although thanks for the confidence. 

I also campaigned for freedom of speech and keeping the SU on track against the Pro Choice motion that did not succeeded at the ballot box. Although the Women's Network are still struggling to get this motion passed I think the voice of the people condemned their plans of internal politics, time will tell though.

With a Lapsed Pro Choice policy, Nottingham Uni is that little bit freer from restrictions on freedom of speech.

Sadly though there was a great loss. Baroness Thatcher died in April and I was there to pay my respects to her. I never met Baroness Thatcher, despite this though she has great influence upon me politically. I was pleased that so many people turned up and that after the procession so many people spoke in celebration of her life at an event run by the Bow Group and Freedom Association.

A nice photo of me with a huge photo of Baroness Thatcher.

And of course this has been big too. #ThingsElliottSays is going from strength to strength. I really enjoy writing this, I can be very open about what I feel on where we are going and what we should do next as a party and a nation. But I have got some small success too. We are almost at 20,000 hits for this blog and now I am writing for the TAB.



But the number one political event during my University life was the people. I believe a lot in people, they keep the country together for one thing. But I have made some genuine friends and built upon others (sorry if this is too cliché but it is genuinely true). I have met so many people through conference, NUCA, campaigning and even this Blog. All I can say is bring on two more years of micro political goings on. 

Friends for a long time to come.

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Thursday, 7 March 2013

#YBFRally

So I was at the YBF Rally yesterday. It was great. Thanks go to the YBF team and Donal Blaney who runs it all. The best speakers of the day in my opinion were Eric Pickles MP, Steve Baker MP, Robert Halfon MP and also David Jones MP. But there was also important speakers like Ian Duncan Smith MP and Matthew Elliott, whose campaigning to Mash Beer Tax (see http://mashbeertax.org/).

YBF operates under Chatham House Rules so we can’t say who said what, which makes it a bit difficult for blogging. But we do have a Twitter and so this is what all the twitterers were tweeting yesterday.

YBF is ultrasound and here is why.


Eric Pickles was also there encouraging us on in a very personal speech.


Also we were asked to show our support for the EU. A majority of us wanted to leave.


Steve Baker was also there to tell us exactly what Government actually means.


Steve Baker also had one more thing to say.


Mr Cooper was as loud as ever shouting 'sound' and 'hear hear', including at my comments on the Foreign Office. But he also recorded the great analogies of Robert Halfon MP.


 Analogies too came from our NUCA's Robert Smith.


But another  piece of advise that stuck well was from #teamjasmine.


So that's what happened. YBF is excellent get involved. 

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