#Podcast

Yesterday I went on the Big Picture for the first time in months. I did a blog post about this yesterday but forgot to share. Opps! Anyway, you can listen to what I had to said about the Afghanistan Elections, Maria Miller and the Smog. You can listen to the podcast here.

Bye, Bye Maria Miller; You Will Not Be Missed

Bye, bye Maria Miller; you will not be missed. 

It was obvious Maria Miller had to go in my mind when she gave the worst apology in the world and then got her PPS to threaten the press with Leveson. Putting aside any wrong doing she had done on her expenses, how can you honestly think that this is something a decent minister could do? It does astound me.

But actually I'm quite pleased Maria Miller has gone because I think she was the most incompetent person in the whole cabinet. She is quite frankly a walking disaster unable to handle any task.

Walking Disaster.

Maria Miller was in charge of the outcome of the Leveson inquiry. As you all know after the report was published Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg called for press censorship to solve crimes which were already illegal. The lobbying from a group of celebrities, who wanted to be on and off public display simultaneously, corrupted the weak minded lefties. So what was Maria Miller's reaction? Well after a short while the government, particularly the department she headed, caved in and agreed to press censorship. What an amazing Culture and Media Secretary she was. She will certainly not be known as the saviour of freedom in the future.

Maria Miller to be locked up for curbing freedom of speech.

Furthermore Maria Miller handled equal marriage. This was always going to be a hot potato in the Conservative Party, it was never going end very well. But Maria as the Equalities Minister handled it so badly for the Government. It got to the point that people who agreed with gay marriage felt they could not support the law because the media mismanagement was so enormous. The actual draft of the law was terrible too having being altered so many times and still not being great in its outcome.

Maria Miller is also not sorry for the mess she made of her time in Government.

Overall Maria Miller was just short of terrible (she is better than Harriet Harperson who is her opposite number, but that's not saying much). Thank God Sajid Javid and Nick Morgan are taking over her two briefs. Sajid Javid is a rising star, he is competent and can manage the monies very well. Nicky Morgan is as equally good. I have seen less of her in government but Nicky Morgan has shown competence throughout and is definitely not just got a Cabinet role because she is a woman. Its a shame that they have been elevated to an office under these circumstances.

The best of the 2010 intake.

#TheBigPicture

After a little bit of a break I am back discussing politics on the Big Picture, URN's flagship debating show. Today we're talking about the Smog and how the Sahara is moving to this country (I bet UKIP is happy). We will be discussing Maria Miller and the her resignation. There will also be debate on the up and coming Afghanistan Elections.

Please tune in at 6pm and use the free web texts to get involved with the debate. You can listen in here.

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.

Caffeine kicking in, train banter and soon to be campaigning in Harlow. #RoadTrip2015
— Daniel Pryor (@DanielPryorr) April 5, 2014

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.

We're out campaigning in Harlow today as part of #RoadTrip2015 to get the SOUND @halfon4harlowMP re-elected. Excellent turnout!
— UCL Conservatives (@UCLTories) April 5, 2014

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.

Waited ages to cross the road in #Harlow. Who lets us through? A White Van Conservative! #RoadTrip2015
— Mark Malik (@MarkMalik_2) April 5, 2014

England and South Africa united to campaign for @halfon4harlowMP #RoadTrip2015 @CalFreeman pic.twitter.com/INelDflkbc
— Mahyar Tousi (@MahyarTousi) April 5, 2014

"@hannahrawbone: 2nd batch of delivery for @halfon4harlowMP in #harlow today with @RoadTrip2015 #onit #roadtrip2015" gr8 work! #RoadTrip2015
— Road Trip (@RoadTrip2015) April 5, 2014

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.

Refuelling before the last round of leafleting #Harlow #RoadTrip2015 pic.twitter.com/WTAql4rlvI
— Maria Strizzolo (@MariaStrizzolo) April 5, 2014

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.

Proof that @halfon4harlowMP is sound: He knows the words to Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da ba dee). #harlow #RoadTrip2015
— Mark Malik (@MarkMalik_2) April 5, 2014

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.

One Year On

A year ago today Margaret Thatcher died at 11pm in the Ritz hotel. When a great world leader goes it is always a sad day but for Baroness Thatcher it must have been a happy day as she reunited with her husband Denis. Margaret Thatcher left a great legacy. She saved Britain.

This is one of those moments where people will say "where were you?" so I shall tell you. I was in Rome about to board a plane back home having spent a wonderful week exploring the heart of the Roman world. Being there it was clear that Margaret Thatcher was well respected and admired across the world. Just look at what the Italian newspapers had to say. According to il Gornale Baroness Thatcher was "the daughter of a grocer" who later became "the enemy of the unions" through "the handbag [that] became legendary". Even the centre left paper La Republica had good words to say about Baroness Thatcher calling her "the Iron Lady who changed Britain".

Margaret Thatcher meant a lot to many people. She also meant a lot in a variety of different ways. It's impossible to go through all those good traits which ultimately saved Britain. But to me the great revolutionary change in the country is the most important. Through a strong personal will Baroness Thatcher stopped Britain's decline and led the world as it forged forward in creating better lives for people with a strong economy. Margaret Thatcher was a revolutionary and because of this Britain was a very different and much better place after he terms in office.

Exclusive: Political Scandal Rocks Nottingham University

A political scandal is rocking Nottingham University. Inherent biases in the the university system have been discovered. These revelations come after Nottingham University was recently labelled as 'sound(ish)' by this blog. Clearly however this was a mistake. Just look at the Road Layout.

Photo Courtesy of @samwarmstrong

There are calls for the Vice Chancellor to #Resign, in true Port and Policy style.

Harlow Road Trip

I have just got back from the Harlow Road Trip where I supported the great Robert Halfon MP, one of the best members of Parliament this country has. It was a brilliant day and where we (myself and 78 others) delivered 30,000 leaflets and canvassed two wards up for election in May. I will do a much larger post later about the Harlow Road Trip but as a starter to wet your appetite here is a video created by Mahyar (better known as Shadow).