By-Election in Clifton North

Well it is by-election time again in Nottingham, the residents of Clifton North (which already have two decent Conservative Councillors) get to choose who will replace former Labour councillor Lee Jeffrey.

Former Labour Councillor, Lee Jeffrey.

Why did Mr Jeffrey have to stop being a councillor you may ask? He didn't suddenly get ill and he isn't leaving the council due to a career change. No he was forced to resign as a councillor because he was too feckless to turn up to meetings. Apparently he hasn't been to council meetings since June 2013. Indeed according to Lee Jeffrey himself he was selected by Nottingham Labour to be a council candidate although they knew he needed a lot of help to be one. He was not ideal material for a councillor. These Labour councillors are great aren't they. I wonder if Nottingham Labour has any other lazy councillors?

But anyway the City Council have set Thursday 6th March as the by-election day and the deadline to be registered to vote is Wednesday 19th February.

According to Labour activists Nottingham City Council tried to sue me when I once copied a photo of their logo. I now use this as my logo photo to make sure it doesn't happen.

The Conservative Candidate is a local man Andrew Rule who is chairman of the Wilford Community Group. He cares very much about what happens in his local area and will work hard to make sure residents have their opinions heard in the council chamber. He is certainly a man to trust.

Conservative Candidate Andrew Rule 

Please make sure you vote for Andrew.

#TheBigPicture

At 6pm I am on the Big Picture, URN's flagship politics show, setting the world to right and hoping that someone is listening. Tonight we're discussing Syria, the Ukraine and the 50p tax rate.

You can listen here and don't forget to send in free web texts.

Book Worms Disown Clegg

Books worms across the country are fed up with Nick Clegg, arn't we all. So much so that his biography by Chris Bowers has descended rapidly in price from £17.99 to £6.99 and then to £4.99. I would advise those who really want this book to wait a few more days because retailers will be giving them away soon. Poor Cleggers

A good spot by JP Floru.

#SJGate

Sarah Jane Sewell has again got herself into another scandal as she has blocked several senior Conservative Future members from being on the official Conservative Future Facebook Group. There are at least 6 senior CF members, not including #ThingsElliottSays, that have been blocked from the official Conservative Future group on Facebook.

These revelations have come after Sarah Jane panicked after seeing a TBG article about someone adding UKIPers for fun to the group and has now added other national exec officers as admins to the page. In doing so however she has incriminated herself in another scandal which proves she was the only one who could have kicked several prominent Conservative Future members off the official page.

Before the TBG article.

After the TBG article

An anonymous senior member of CF has come to #ThingsElliottSays saying "This is just another thing that SJ has done that proves she is not fit to be on the national executive of CF. I thought CF was a democracy not a dictatorship. The worst thing is several UKIP members have been on the page for years. Why are there UKIP members on the CF Group and yet some members of CF are deliberately excluded."

Some words of advice from Sarah Jane.

Sarah Jane's actions seem to go totally against what she signed in the 'A Conservative and Unionist Pledge' last January where she promised to 'promote transparency, openness and accountability throughout Conservative Future'.

UKIP is Not Libertarian

I want to put the final nail in the coffin of UKIP being a Libertarian Party and I'll do this with a little help from my senior YI source who has given me some interesting views from senior UKIP people. Although these views are not morally barmy they may be considered factually so. But I do definitely know that they will offend everyone who loves liberty.

Let's start with UKIP's number two Paul Nuttal, who was very recently on Question Time. One of the cornerstones, or at least something which is often talked about, of Libertarianism is repealing the ban on drugs. I very much doubt that Mr Nuttall would allow that to happen.

There is also @Marty_Caine who is a very well known and senior UKIPer who displays some very 'libertarian' views. I'm sure those who believe in liberty would love to be in a party with the chap who has said this.

Charming stuff. But he has some very interesting ideas on the 'free market' as well.

And of course Marty had to have his voice heard when Olly Neville was kicked out of UKIP for backing gay marriage. I think he proves that UKIP is more a dictatorship than a political party.

This was quite a widespread view amongst the Kippers, although there was the odd one who backed Olly Neville early last year.

So as you can see UKIP is a great party full of liberty loving freedom fighters. I'm sure libertarians are flocking to join a party which will never change the drugs laws, wants to end the free market and agree that those who think gay people should marry are party enemies. UKIP are certainly not Libertarians, or even allow that sort of thought.

Personally, if UKIP has an ideology other than populism, I think the party is somewhat nationalist; everything seems to be solved by waving the Union Flag. I was at a Pint and Policy with Nottingham Trent the other day and some UKIPer was proposing we nationalise all industry to bring it under the British states control, especially if the companies are foreign owned (Labour loved this when he said it by the way). The problem with UKIP is that despite having a lot of policies I agree with, like Europe and Grammar Schools, they're all seemingly doing it because they believe Britain should rule over all. I'm the first in line when it comes to patriotism but this is just stupid and actually quite immoral. I might explore this idea of UKIP being nationalists later.

50p Immorality

Yesterday Ed Balls, who hasn't said anything for a month despite being second in command of Labour, declared that he wanted to bring back the 50p tax rate. Oh dear, when will these people learn.

Firstly let's examine what Ed Balls said:

"When the deficit is still high, when tough times are now set to last well into the next parliament, when for ordinary families their real incomes are falling and taxes have risen, it cannot be right for David Cameron and George Osborne to have chosen to give the richest people in the country a huge tax cut. That's why, for the next parliament, the next Labour government will reverse this government's top rate tax cut so we can finish the job of getting the deficit down and do it fairly. For the next parliament, we will restore the 50p top rate ... reversing this unfair tax cut for the richest 1% of people in the country."

I'd choose Osborne over Balls any day.

Essentially Ed Balls is making a moral statement. He could have said instead "how dare the rich people not contribute more as a percentage in tax. Its their fault for the recession and we want to make them pay. Its not fair for the everyone else". 

The Conservatives brought in the 45p tax rate and now the rich pay more.

There is one killer argument for why it was right for the Conservatives to cut the 50p tax rate. At 45p the rich may be taxed less as a % but the top 1% now pay more money into the treasury. The 50p tax rate raised either a negligible or no money for the Government to spend (we're not exactly sure because if money did come in the amount was too small to notice and record). The Governments policy of cutting the 50p rate to 45p has brought in £1.5 billion in the first month on top of the tiny amount of money that was/wasn't made under a 50p tax rate. In theory the 45p tax rate should at least bring in £18 billion a year to be spent on the public. This figure is much more than the most outlandish predictions of revenues for the 50p tax rate of £3 billion per year when introduced by Alistair Darling in 2010.

This means Ed Balls only one thing. Ed Balls is an immoral man. He is saying to the British People, despite the money raised in this tax cut coming in a free market fashion which boosts business, jobs and living standards, that people should receive a cut in vital services such as health and education to pay for a 'fairer' tax system. I don't know about you but what is not fair is cutting services when you do not have to. Ed Balls is immorally saying to the poorest bare more of the burden, pay more tax and we'll in the mean time moan at the rich for not doing enough. I don't think that is fair. It is immoral, but then that's the Labour Party for you.

Ed Balls learnt from one of the best when it comes to immorality, remember Labour scrapped the 10p tax rate.

I think this argument is the best at countering opposition to a 45p tax rate. Leave alone how its creates more jobs, allows for wages to rise and brings more intellectuals and ideas to Britain. The killer point is that Ed Balls is really saying to the poorest in society you should have less money so we can pretend to be morally outraged. Ed Balls, Red Ed and the rest of the Labour Party are morally vacuous. 

Weekly Poll Lowdown

In this weekly poll I asked you to become YouGov (or more realistically Betfred or Ladbrokes). You seem to think that by the end of this year the Conservatives will be ahead in the polls. A fair proportion also believe that things will stay as they are with Labour being in the lead. Some mad people think the UKIP will take the lead in the polls and the most insane of you believe the Lib Dems will have the highest proportion of votes. I think 4% of you need to see some sort of therapist.

Which Party will have the largest percentage of the votes by the end of this year?

Conservative	43%
Labour	34%
Lib Dem	4%
UKIP	20%
No Idea	0%

Total votes: 56

Before I essentially start stabbing into the dark to try and predict what is going on I must say that any predictions are based on current trends. Trends can change, events can happen. This is why interpreting the results of a poll are so hard, a poll is almost out of date the moment it is published in this weird political whirlpool that exists in Westminster.

Personally though I could see the Conservatives having some sort of lead in polling by December 2014. Since the Autumn Statement, which was in December or winter for some reason, there has been a growing belief that the Conservatives have got it right on the economy and that the United Kingdom is surging upwards at a decent pace. It's pretty hard to argue with 1% growth figures and ones which are predicted to be over 2% this year.

Coupled with this is employment is up by 1.6 million since 2010 and is likely to further increase. Unemployment is also tumbling. Last month saw the second biggest fall on record so that now 7.1% of the workforce are unemployed (closing in on the Bank of England 7% unemployment level for considering raising interest rates). In fact in the last few months the decline in unemployment has been great enough for it to be likely to reach just above or at the pre-recession level by the General Election.

Labour is also all over the place like a very confused octopus. Labour have picked too many and terrible choices of things to talk about over the last few months. For example no one trusts Labour on welfare and yet for half of January they have chosen to lecture the British people about how to reform the failed system they created. It's no wonder the public see the Conservatives as best to deal with welfare. For the last month as well they have been talking about immigration, an issue with very strong opinions. Yet Labour did the most damage by applying no restrictions on immigration and not implementing migration controls with the rest of Europe. Their choices have been poor but selecting two major issues in one month is almost as bad, if I were the average voter I'd be perplexed by what is going on.

The one area where Labour has been concentrating on, and will continue to do so because they has positioned themselves to the point where they can no longer stop, is the cost of living.  There are many problems with putting all your eggs in this basket. Firstly it is marketed as a cost of living crisis. As was pointed out by Andrew Neil, the idea this is a crisis is completely hyperbolic as retail sales are going up caused by middle and low earners spending more. Secondly everyone always complains about the cost of living even in the best economic climates. This is rightly so as people want to keep as much of their own money but this means it has never been a deciding factor in a General Election. The best way to talk about the cost of living is to target a few substantial issues and then talk about them lots, like the Conservatives have done with fuel duty. You don't get anywhere by complaining about everything and therefore nothing. Lastly, although I would not be as brave as the Government or Gudio Fawkes to proclaim the cost of living problem is over, things can only get better from here on in as we have seen with high predicted growth rates and pretty low inflation. There is clearly a shift in opinions on the squeeze.

With these general trends considered I could imagine a 2 or 3 % lead in the polls for the Conservatives  by December 2014. I believe the tide of Labour leading in the polls will turn sometime over the summer. It's not going to get any better for Labour considering the economics and their past record of picking poor places to make a political stand.

Vote in the new poll. 

Can You Spot #ThingsElliottSays in the Latest Party Political Broadcast?

Can you spot #ThingsElliottSays in the latest Party Political Broadcast for the Conservatives? Watch and see.



The filming of this broadcast took place on West Bridgeford High Street and is footage from when we had a street stall in September and earlier this month. I definitely prefer filming in the late summer rather than the depths of a very cold winter.

The film crew introducing themselves to the man in the Broadcast.

The Conservatives are really pushing forward the idea for Hard-working People ever since conference, so far I think it is actually working very well. The Conservatives really want to show how we have a long term economic plan and that we have 5 major points in how we have made the country better after 13 years of a Labour Government that destroyed the economy. 

The Conservatives are:

1. Reducing the deficit- so we deal with our debts, safeguard our economy for the long term and keep mortgage rates low

2. Cutting income taxes and freezing fuel duty- to help hard-working people be more financially secure

3. Creating more jobs- by backing small business and enterprise with better infrastructure and lower jobs taxes

4. Capping welfare and reducing immigration- so our economy delivers for people who want to work hard and play by the rules

5. Delivering the best schools and skills for young people- so the next generation can succeed in the global race

Tim Farron Explains Why Rennard Lost the Lib Dem Whip

Lord Rennard has been cooking up a media storm for the Lib Dems.

Its not been a great week for the Lib Dems has it. Lord Rennard was let off the hook after complaints of sexual misconduct to several women. The old boys in the Lib Dems just didn't understand the moral problems with the peers promiscuous behaviour. At least Nick Clegg realises this is a political disaster and has now withdrawn Lord Rennard's Lib Dem whip, although legally speaking I'm not sure that it is allowed.

This has led Tim Farron, the Lib Dem President, to take action and he has emailed all Lib Dems explaining why Lord Rennard has had the whip taken away. He has emailed Seb explaining the situation.

Dear Sebastian,

It has been a difficult few days for the party. Many of you have contacted me directly to express your anger and disappointment at Lord Rennard's refusal to apologise following the recommendations of the investigation into his behaviour. As President, I wanted you to hear from me.

Along with Nick Clegg, I made my view absolutely clear - Lord Rennard's refusal to apologise is unacceptable. Most importantly, Lord Rennard is actively rejecting calls to apologise from party members and is refusing to comply with a formal party body.

This refusal was grounds for further action.

Today it has been decided that Lord Rennard's membership of the Liberal Democrats will be suspended, and that he will be subject to a fresh investigation over his refusal to apologise.

This decision was taken by the Regional Parties’ Committee (the body which adjudicates on internal disciplinary matters in England) following a large number of complaints from party members. This decision means he will not be able to sit as a Liberal Democrat in the House of Lords, and will not be allowed to sit on our party's Federal Policy Committee.

I understand why some people have chosen to strongly defend Lord Rennard. He was instrumental in much of our electoral success, and has given many years of service. However, everyone in the party has a responsibility to treat others with respect, and no length of service can or should lessen that obligation.

No doubt some of you will want to share your thoughts on this issue with me directly. I hope that you do.

As President, I want to make sure that you always know that your thoughts, feelings, and feedback matter to me.

Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to personally thank you for everything you do for the party.

Very best wishes, Tim

I'm sure Nick Clegg is having a great start to the week.

Labour Promises to Get Tough on Benefits

If I could give the Labour Party one good piece of advice it is do not talk about benefits. Considering how it was the Labour Party that trapped millions of people on benefit payouts leaving a significant proportion of the population to rot and a few to abuse the system, the British public doesn't want to hear any lectures on welfare from Labour. 

However, Rachel Reeves, the new Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary*, has said that “A Labour government will introduce a Basic Skills Test to assess all new claimants for Job Seekers Allowance within six weeks of claiming benefits." #ThingsElliottSays has managed to get a copy of this new skills test that Labour will use if they're returned to power in 2015.

First seen on Guido Fawkes.

Very testing. No wonder this has been easily shown up by the Conservatives who have said "Labour are copying a Conservative policy that already exists and that is superior to the one they are proposing. After 13 years of Labour running our education system, many young people looking for work do not have the English and Maths skills they need to get a job. That's why, starting in some areas at first, anyone aged 18 to 21 signing on without these basic skills will be required to undertake training from day one or lose their benefits."

Its only the Conservatives who can get people off benefits and back into work. Vote for the Conservative Party, vote for the Workers Party.

*She has replaced Baldermort, otherwise known as Liam Byrne, because the Unite union told Red Ed to get rid of him.

#ThingsElliottSays is One Year Old

#ThingsElliottSays' old logo is back from retirement.

365 days ago I decided that I would get involved in the blogersphere and give my two pennies (not cents, we're not Americans) on politics to the wider world.  It seems like I only did my first article 'Getting Rid of Gordon' about the Great Gordon Brown Repeal Bill a month or so ago. But its seems you're very interested in my opinion pieces, weekly polls, and news stories as I am still going strong and getting a monthly average of over 10,000 views. I don't think that is too bad considering I started with absolutely nothing and am actually not very good with computers.

Me and Antonia Jade (the Royal Holoway CF President) are founding members of #TeamSJS

I've reported on the CF elections, the Labour Party campaigning in the wrong ward, and CF exec members who can't be bothered to do their jobs. Of course the best successes I have had this year are relating to all the news in the Sarah Jane Saga, reporting on adulterous and lesbian hating Cllr Sam Fletcher, and making it into the Mail on Sunday and onto ITV news.

But my blog hasn't been internationally well liked, let's be fair. I doubt Sarah Jane or Sam Fletcher has anything great to say about me blowing the whistle on them. Nor do I think the senior UKIP members that are currently suspended due to my senior YI source are very happy. The Lefties probably don't like thsi either considering I'm showing how generally crap they are on a daily basis. But most of all I think I have cheesed off Nottingham Labour Council for reporting on their Student hating councillors. Nottingham Labour were so angry about this I have been told by Labour Soc members they tried to sue me for using the city council logo, at least I have come up with a solution to this.

Just in case the Labour Soc members are right I have my own photo of the Nottingham City Council logo.

I've really enjoyed writing #ThingsElliottSays so far and if you can put up with my sometimes terrible grammar I hope you continue to read. I would like to party but today I have to revise for my exams, put the bubbles on ice then. Happy First Birthday to #ThingsElliottSays.

The Chairman Strikes Back

I don't know about you but I quite like Grant Shapps as chairman of the Conservative Party. He's done very well in taking the argument to Labour and jointly with Lynton Crosby has sharpened up the Conservatives message. I also quite enjoyed having dinner with him at Nandos during the Party Conference.

Of late Shapps has been at his best; its good to see his no nonsense stance in tackling the Leftie trolls.

Mahyar Tousi Launches Election Campaign

Today comes the obvious news that CF has been a long time waiting for; Mahyar Tousi has started campaigning to be elected councillor for Lee Green ward on Lewisham council. Yesterday Mahyar with a large number of helpers, including James Cleverly AM, went out on the streets of Lee Green to convince them to vote Tousi and Conservative for this years May elections. 

Charlotte Kude, Mayhar's campaign manager who he describes as 'Brilliant but 'bossy'', has said to #ThingsElliottSays "A great turnout and some very good responses on the doorstep have left both me and Mahyar very optimistic about the future of his campaign."

James Cleverly said yesterday whilst camapigning "there had been great feedback on the door step against the incompetent Labour council, and that they said they need a Cllr who actually does something. The residents also said Mahyar is more likely to get more personal votes and that may decide the results."

The television superstar Stephen Canning said "It was brilliant to be able to go out campaigning for yet another CF'er standing for council. It's a demonstration of how many talented individuals there are now in CF that so many are being selected to stand for their local councils."

Mahyar himself said that his first day campaigning got a great response form the people of Lee Green on Facebook. Mahyar will also soon be announcing the completion of a business forum to get small local business to work together. Mahyar also is encouraging CFers from up and down the country to come join him on the streets of Lee Green by tempting them with a campaign launch party and other events later this year. Ideas for future events include a possible barbecue and who knows maybe Boris Johnson might turn up?

Lee Green is a very winnable seat for the Conservatives in the 2014 May elections. Lewisham council is held by an incompetent Labour Party, who would have guessed that those two words would be next to each other, but the Lee Green seat is held by the Libe Dems. In 2006, the last time this seat was up for election without a General Election on the same day, the Conservatives were short of just 80 votes from taking Lee Green. Mahyar has a very good chance of becoming Cllr Tousi so please support him.

People of Lee Green vote for Mahyar Tousi in the May elections. He is the only candidate who is 'standing up for Lee Green'.