Exclusive: James Deighton talks to #thingselliottsays

We have just received news from James Deighton who is running from Chairman of National CF. He wishes to stress the importance of campaigning in the Conservatives and how much this will be a part of CF under Deighton. This is what he had to say:

Last week we heard the dramatic news that Chris Huhne had finally accepted that the game was up and he pleaded guilty at his trail. Thus he was forced to step down from parliament, triggering a by-election in Eastleigh.  This is a crucial contest for both governing parties and it’s vital that we win this key target seat.

The Lib Dems have moved the writ extremely quickly with the election date set for Thursday 28^th February. This does not give us much time and we must move quickly if we are to seize this opportunity. There can be no better way of getting back at the Lib Dems for their betrayal over the boundary reforms than by taking this seat from them.

As a National CF Deputy Chairman and a candidate for National Chairman I know more than most that at times CF can become all too introverted. People often lose sight of the bigger picture with members attacking each other and bickering amongst themselves far too often. We must never forget that the reason we joined the Conservative party was to get our members elected, defeat our ideological opponents, and enact our ideas in government.  Campaigning together in elections unites us like nothing else. It strengthens our belief in our ideas and allows us to put aside our differences to work on something that is far bigger and more important than ourselves.

I love campaigning and during my many years in CF I have been all over the country. Knocking on countless doors and pushing thousands of pieces of literature through letter boxes.  I have been to almost every parliamentary by-election since Crewe and Nantwich in 2008. From Bradford to Barnsley, and Haltemprice to Henley. 

Nothing quite stiffens the sinews and summons up the blood like a parliamentary by-election. They offer a great opportunity to meet new people, see a different part of the country, and to participate in a high tempo, energetic campaign.

Although I live and work in Yorkshire I will be travelling to Eastleigh this Saturday for a day of campaigning. I strongly encourage every member of CF to do their bit to help our candidate Maria Hutchings succeed. If you can’t make it in person then you can always do some phone canvassing from one of the parties campaign centre or even from home. If we all do our bit we can turn Eastleigh blue.