#TheBigPicture

I am back on the Big Picture with all my debating friends, both Right Wing and Leftie. The show starts at 6pm on URN. Tonight we're debating Ukraine/Venezuela, Harriet Harperson and here love for paedophilia and Nick Clegg vs. Nigel Farage. Please listen in here, you can send a free web text as well to join in with the show.

Grammar Saves Lives

Today the BBC has shown that grammar is very important. Watch this BBC news reader announce the headlines.



Before you say anything, yes I realise my grammar is not perfect. It is however very funny to laugh at people's unintentionally funny grammar mistakes. Grammar has also not been a strong point of other CF members as well.

Do you think Sarah Jane will get a job in the BBC now?

YI In Election 'Chaos'

After the revelations on Monday that the YI elections are rigged, Young Independence (the UKIP youth movement) has descended into chaos.

#ThingsElliottSays has been sent some advertisements for and against Jack Duffin, the candidate who is rigged to become the next YI Chair after he conspired with the NEC. Firstly Jack Duffin's team are about to launch this poster (first seen on #ThingsElliottSays).

I think this campaign poster has backfired somewhat considering no one can trust someone who has rigged an election, no one can trust Nigel (at least in YI if not in general) and Jack Duffin is advertising his own bribery money. What a crook.

Secondly YI has started to use attack ads, although CF had equally as many sad people who made these too at the last elections.

Great Photoshop skills.

#ThingsElliottSays senior YI source has said "It has all descended into chaos. YI members are not happy that Jack Duffin has rigged the elections, they also think the NEC doesn't care about them. I have spoken to many people who refuse to vote in protest of the poor quality of candidates and the conspiracy in YI." The source further said "I bet people will leave YI soon. We have no voice".

Nigel has abandoned YI.

Another YI member said to #ThingsElliottSays on Jack Duffin that he "is no stranger to unsavoury tactics, he resorted to threatening people who planned to stand for council positions against those he wanted in - that's why there are so few positions up for election compared to last time around. He also stood down from the last council because he fell out with every single member. Why would UKIP want this kind of troublemaker anywhere near the leadership of YI unless he was to be nothing other than a pawn?"

Jack Duffin with Paul Nuttal MEP.

A person who left YI recently also told #ThingsElliottSays "its like the community YI used to have online has sort of broken down irreparably. Theres nothing Duffin is proposing that's gonna fix that, just lots of him getting paid and touring the country to up his own profile. The days of Harry Aldridge seem like a long long time ago"

#ThingsElliottSays spoke to Jack Duffin but he declined to comment on why he rigged the elections. Chris Wood, a Hampshire County Councillor, also declined to comment when #ThingsElliottSays informed him personally of the election fixing.

You know YI is in chaos when five sources, totally on there own, approach #ThingsElliottSays to decry YI.

Update

Looks like YI has turned to huge infighting over this election. No wonder considering it's an absolute farce. I got this message on Twitter.

@ReeceWarren94 You have said nothing to me, I don't even know who you are TBH. The elections are a bit of a shambles arn't they.
— Elliott Johnson (@thingsEJsays) February 26, 2014

YI is about to go into civil war mode.

Exclusive: YI Elections Rigged

#ThingsElliottSays can reveal today that the Young Indpendence (UKIP's youth wing) elections are officially rigged. #ThingsElliottSays is pleased to announce that the winner of the YI elections even before voting begins on Wednesday. The winner is Jack Duffin so well done to him. After #OllyShambles and the collapse of any moral integrity in YI's elections this news should come as no surprise.

Jack with Paul Nuttal MEP.

According to a #ThingsElliottSays source, who left UKIP very recently, "The NEC are desperate to have control over YI affairs". The NEC have thus been ringing up senior YI members they view as puppets to see if they would like to be the next YI chairman. Of course, to sweeten the deal the NEC have guaranteed the candidate they choose would win by 'fixing' (yes they used that word in phone conversations to potential candidates) the elections. #ThingsElliottSay's source has said that this deal was accepted by Jack Duffin and the "offer doesn't apply to Chris Wood", who is also standing as YI Chairman.

Nigel controls YI. You don't get a vote in the UKIP youth movement.

But why would Jack Duffin accept this deal because any honest and moral person would never agree to such an arrangement? Well according to the source "Neil Hamilton*, that esteemed gentleman, has secretly offered to pay Duffin a salary to sit as YI Chairman." Yes that is right UKIP is paying people to be YI Chair. This is part bribery and part quiet money. Mr Duffin has a very faulty moral compass.

It comes as no surprise then that Jack Duffin in his manifesto says he will be getting a "salary of £12k" if elected as YI Chair. Mr Duffin would like YI members to think that the money would be raised "through a YI Patrons Club"; but in reality Jack is getting directly paid by party funds.

YI Conference last year.

I bet YI members are really happy with this news.

*Neil Hamilton is a NEC member, YI President and close to Jack Duffin.

Weekly Poll Lowdown

Democracy lives on through #ThingsElliottSays' weekly poll. 69% of you want there to be a referendum on the EU. 31% are either Lib Dems or members of the House of Lords, that fine democratic institution. But it's good to see that roughly you're on the money when it comes to public opinion. The Let Britain Decide Literature proudly boasts that 62% of people want a referendum on Europe according to YouGov. 70% was also the average amount of people who wanted a vote on the EU when the People's Pledge conducting a few polls in marginal constituencies up and down the country.

Should we Let Britain Decide over Europe?

Yes	69%
No	31%
Unsure	0%

Total votes: 65

It will come as no surprise to you that I would like to see a referendum on the EU. For far too long we have had no say on the matter and considering, either through deception or massive evolution, the EU is no longer the trading bloc we signed up to in the 1970s we deserve to say whether we should be in it or not. In a truly functioning democracy I think people deserve a say. That is why I think Labour and the Lib Dems are making a big mistake over this referendum.

The Lib Dems, although they are trying to chase the people who are solid Europhiles, are not actually defending their beliefs. Challenging Nigel Farage to a debate on LBC and saying the odd word about how we must stay in Europe is not going to win them many of these votes. What a Europhile voter would respond to the best, even if they don't per se want a referendum*, would be to engage with the Let Britain Decide campaign by backing a referendum in the House of Commons. A robust defence of the European Union could see us stay inside it. There is undoubtedly going to be an EU referendum now but the decision to leave is by no means decided and is a very big ask. Its not like this tactic hasn't been tried in some way with great success by the Lib Dems before.

Don't you wish the Lib Dems would keep to their promises.

Labour too have missed a good chance because they could have essentially nulled any polling gain the Conservatives could have from this referendum. As polling suggests time and again Europe is not the biggest problem as seen by the average voter. This is mostly because the EU is actually fairly distant in a lot of respects to everyday life, not that everyone over a copy of a newspaper doesn't have a breakfast table moan about the EU with an inevitable article everyday. But people still care and there is a small but not insignificant amount of voters who do have the European Union as a top priority especially when combined with immigration. If Labour wants a realistic majority, because their 35% strategic will not work depending on how well previous Lib Dem voters dig in, they need to try win back some of the people concerned with Europe and immigration that follows from it.

This man, who lined his pockets with millions from Brussels, may be a reason why Labour won't back a referendum.

I would be surprised if all the main parties do not have a referendum in their manifesto for these reasons; although stranger things have happened. Personally I am very likely to vote out, Dave will have to get a lot back if he wants my vote in 2017. When trade is shrinking inside the EU and the rest of the world is booming, what's the point of shackling ourselves to a cartel?

Vote in the New Poll.

* A fair proportion of those who want a vote have already decided they want to stay in Europe but want people to voice their opinions.

Exclusive: CF Election Scandal Proved

For two weeks consecutively TBG has published articles about Robert Graham, from South West CF, and an election scandal (these can be viewed here and here). The plot however thickens today after proof has emerged of a related conspiracy in South West CF.

The full details, which are long and quite onerous, in the form of quotes from Robert can be found on TBG but the scandal in a nut shell is this. Robert, who was standing as South West Membership Officer, sent out a very personal attack message about another candidate to all those who could have voted for him. Obviously this was not at all acceptable and Toby Elliott*, the regional chair, after an investigation took disciplinary actions. Robert has since apologised for his actions.

The offensive attack message.

However, Robert has alleged that Harry Ives, the Political Director for South West CF, had encouraged him to send this attack message. Harry was giving Robert advice about this election mostly over the phone. Robert, after an earlier phone conversation, had sent him the attack message over Facebook and Robert posted it after Harry had told him do so by text. This evidence however is circumstantial and Harry has denied that he knew about the personal attack message insisting he wanted Robert to send out a positive 5 point plan and did not see the full details of Roberts long Facebook message. Toby Elliott therefore found in his investigation that Harry had been negligent but did not find any evidence to prove that Harry had encouraged Graham to launch a very personal attack. Until now Robert's case has not been proven.

The Texts.

#ThingsElliottSays went to investigate this very peculiar story and found out some surprising things when speaking to the other candidate who Robert attacked. Interestingly the other candidate said that "Harry Ives persuaded me to run for membership officer position twice during one day of campaigning". This struck me as odd, as texts to Robert prove, it would mean Harry was backing both sides. A little odd.

Robert with Jeremy Hunt MP.

Investigation then continued on the texts between Robert and Harry. Robert said Harry would only speak on the phone to him about the attack message so this was quite hard. But there is a link which proves Robert's story in the texts. Rather weirdly part of Robert's consistent story is "something agreed in the phone call that he [Harry] said he would do for me is to write a 'WTF (what the fuck) message' below the message about the other candidate I sent, in order to help me out with support." Robert actually mentions this WTF message twice in the texts he sends to Harry before he posted the offensive attack message. Harry also acknowledges some sort of agreement over a WTF message in the texts saying 'he will respond after he has found his charger'.

Harry and Robert out campaigning last year.

Harry Ives, after #ThingsElliottSays spoke to him, said that  "On the 'wtf' issue, I am completely unable to respond because it's completely gone in my mind, as to me that's a tiny thing so it naturally would have diminished with time, and im fully aware that that will hurt me, especially because I know there would have been an explanation, I just don't have it." This of course goes against what Harry said to Robert in the texts before the personal attack was sent out. Harry did however "absolutely" admit the importance and memorability of the WTF message to Robert which means it is weird Harry has no idea what it means despite a big row that was started over this whole saga and an investigation.

Harry can offer no alternative to what the WTF message means and so this logical conclusion must be taken. Harry and Robert had previously discussed on the phone a plan to write a WTF message after Robert had written a message. Harry thus knew about the content of the message Robert was going to post because they had to be discussing it. If it were a 5 point positive plan that Robert was supposed to write as Harry has claimed a WTF message would not be appropriate. The only sort of message would only be appropriate would be an agreed personal attack message on the other candidate. The fact that part of Robert's story has been proven to be 100% correct with no alternate explanation from Harry shows that the rest of the story has validity.

Toby Elliott, Dr Liam Fox MP and Harry Ives.

There is clearly a provable conspiracy that Harry Ives encouraged Robert to write personal attacks against another candidate in the South West Publicity Elections.

Personally I believe Robert to be highly stupid to go along with such a silly act and carry out such a negative plan. Its is however impossible to deny that Harry does not have any guilt. This information has been sent to Toby Elliott who may now reassess this new information. The moral of this stupid, long and in grand TBG style #SensationallyRevealing story is use your bloody brain.

Some say Robert is the BoJo of CF, I'm not so sure about that.

*Great to see someone else can spell Elliott properly.

A Long Day in Clifton North

I have just spent a very long a tiring day helping Andrew Rule, the local Conservative candidate for the Clifton North by-election. It started early and finished late. Quite frankly I am surprised I am up now writing this at 10pm.

Off to talk to the residents of Clifton North.

We started by campaigning in Silverdale along some residential roads with a large team of activists. We got lots of good responses from the people there and they were very pleased to see that the Conservatives are putting a lot of effort in locally. I think Andrew really cares a lot about the people of Clifton North and what the council does there. It effects him as much as everyone else in the ward so he is very in touch.

We then heard that Lilian Greenwood MP was having a coffee morning/surgery for the people of Silverdale and we thought it would be nice to say hi to all those people who were coming out as well. We thus positioned ourselves at the gates with leaflets to give a balanced view of Nottingham politics. The people we spoke to were very receptive and some were pleased about how we had asked them about issues.

We also managed to speak to Lilian as she came out. She gave a friendly hello but said she would not sadly be voting for Andrew Rule specifically because she didn't live in the ward. Indeed Lilian then specifically said she lived in Southwell, almost 20 miles from Clifton North. Lilian Greenwood the 'local' MP for Nottingham South is thus fairly distant; she should really remove all her implied local connections in her literature for example her work with 'other local MPs'. Lilian therefore sadly cannot vote for Andrew but she did leave open the chance that she'd support him. It would be great to see a Labour MP achieve a cross party consensus in backing the Conservative Andrew Rule for Clifton North. Working together is best.

Out in a small sub team.

A strange thing happened at Lilian's coffee morning/surgery as well. One of us spotted Pat Ferguson, the Labour by-election candidate, come out of the coffee morning/ surgery. This is most strange because Pat doesn't live in the parliamentary constituency of Nottingham South let alone the ward Silverdale is in. As an Aspley resident her MP is Graham Alllen, Nottingham North. Why was Pat there at the surgery/coffee morning? Was she campaigning? I hope Lilian wasn't using tax payers money on that coffee morning/ surgery because that would then be illegal.

Just some of the Conservative team that helped today.

After this we campaigned in some more streets before a break for lunch around 1:30ish at the Wilford Harvester. We then hit the pavements again and knocked on over 500 houses with a big group of activists in the rest of Silverdale. We made good progress but it was made hard by the very bad wind and appalling rain. I was drenched and so were the canvass sheets I was holding, luckily they have been salvaged. Let's hope for better weather on the by-election day of 6th March.

It was really great campaigning in Clifton North again. I hope to get back out there soon to try convince more people to vote for the local Conservative candidate Andrew Rule.

Out and About in Clifton North

Today I was out with NUCA and the Nottingham Tories highlighting to the good people of Wilford, Silverdale and Clifton the abilities and asset of Andrew Rule, the Conservative Candidate in the Clifton North by-election. Everyone has been really keen to help Andrew because he is a great local champion who knows exactly what is going on in the ward as he is currently the leader of the Wilford Community Group.

Campaigning in the rain.

Today we did some canvassing; one of our NUCA members had never been out canvassing before and was excited to get going. However today was not the best day to learn the ropes as it was pouring with rain. We were soaked. But Andrew and the team soldiered on and despite the rain we actually made some good headway in Wilford. We had a good crowd of people out there and we got a large number of voting intentions.

Drenched but still happy.

But we decided to go the extra mile and do some telephone canvassing afterwards so we could speak to residents about local issues. Andrew is very keen to do everything he can for the residents of Clifton North and has already started compiling a list of things residents would like to change, many things are small but they are still important. Today we had issues raised about the tram works, littering, anti-social behaviour, parking, dog poo, pot holes and sleeping policeman; Andrew will investigate all these problems if elected as councillor.

Andrew and the team spent a lot of extra hours concentrating on the issues raised by residents.

Please vote for the hard working local Conservative candidate Andrew Rule on Thursday 6th March in the Clifton North by-election.

#TheBigPicture

I'm back debating politics on the Big Picture talking about what the hell is going on. You can listen in at 6pm. Today we're debating the floods what could have been done, what can be done and why is Nigel Farage and Ed Miliband running around in waders. We're also talking about Sochi and Russian Gay rights, I'm hope Mr Putin doesn't try to censor us. Lastly we'll talk about banning smoking in cars. 

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

Lazy Lefties

The leftwing have gotten rather lazy at Nottingham University. The last few days saw strikes across the country because lecturers want more than a 1% rise in wages. One of my lecturers said to me last year that this demand is rather unfair because people across the country are a lot worse off and seeing less rises in wages than university lecturers. I agree with that sentiment.

Not many people come to the strikes at Nottingham Uni.

I'm rather tired of all these strikes when all we want to do is attend lectures and seminars. Yes lecturers have to work and often they do over time as well, but that is like most jobs. It would seem that Young Green President Duncan Davis, who till now has always been with the handful of lecturers who bother to show up at the picket lines, is tired of these strikes as well. He slept in on Monday during a 2 hour strike and so did some of his socialist friends. The lefties are becoming very lazy.

I did rather like his reply to me however.

@thingsEJsays @NUCA_79 Workers of the world, relax!
— Duncan Davis (@duncanjdavis) February 10, 2014

#ThingsElliottSays Campaigning in Clifton North and with William Hague

Yes after a short break #ThingsElliottSays has returned. I have been ultra busy over the last few days and I'll tell you about two of the things which happened to me.

Photo of William Hague in full flow, taken by Alex Bright.

First off on Thursday I went to see William Hague at East Midlands fundraising dinner for the European elections. Our NUCA treasurer, Alex Bright, sat on the top table with the Foreign Secretary, if only Mr Hague knew how many times Alex has told us the Burmese Embassy story. The food was pretty good and William Hague gave a very good speech under difficult circumstances (the PA system was terrible and he had to shout his speech due to the terrible echo in the hall). Hague said some very important things firstly that even with budget cuts the foreign office is doing more than ever and has opened up a large amount of new embassies and is pushing for more trade with countries across the globe. You would never have seen David Miliband doing that. Furthermore Hague confirmed what we have all suspected; when the new EU referendum bill is put to the commons the government will use the Parliament Acts to get it past the House of Lords, who have shown themselves to be very democratic of late.

Just some of the Conservatives out last Thursday.

There was no rest for me however as the next day I went out campaigning with NUCA members for the Clifton North by-election. There we met the Conservative candidate Andrew Rule, who is a great local champion, and several other Nottingham Conservatives. We leafleted a very large area of Clifton North in a very short amount of time; it's great to have a very large amount of people helping as it shows how much confidence people have in Andrew. Afterwards we went to the pub (this is how all campaigning sessions should end).

Sam delivering a leaflet.

Andrew has specific local knowledge and cares for everyone in the ward. He is the Chairman of the Wilford Community Group and spends a lot of his time helping his neighbours in Clifton North. Andrew told me whilst campaigning that he is very much aware of the problems effecting businesses and people caused by the tram works and if elected will help to ease the congestion and fight for the council to compensate businesses.

NUCA members out campaigning with Andrew.

Andrew is far better and more in touch with people of Wilford, Silverdale and Clifton than the Labour candidate Pat Ferguson. Pat doesn't even live in the same parliamentary constituency as the residents of Clifton North. Pat lives Aspley, miles from anyone who lives in the ward. I personally think it is disheartening when major political parties cannot stand candidates in seats who live in or next to a ward. the Labour candidate has no real demonstrable connection with Clifton North, what a shame.

Andrew is the local choice for Clifton North.

I thus think Andrew Rule is the best choice for Clifton North; I encourage everyone in the ward to vote for him and the Conservatives.

Out and About with Euro Elections Candidate Cllr Tom Hunt

My good friend Cllr Tom Hunt who is the youngest person standing for the Conservatives in the European elections has been a very busy man. He has probably done more travelling than Marco Polo in the last few months in trying to hear the views of people in the Eastern Region. He really does put the effort in. So what are just some of the things he has been doing recently.

Tom has been to the Jonas seafood crab factory in Cromer, North Norfolk with Vicky Ford MEP. Tom has told me that 'Reform of Common Fisheries Policy is key' and something that he would focus on if he were to be elected to fight the Brussels elite. The best thing about this picture though in my opinion is Tom's hat.

After the recent Floods in December, Tom went with the leader of North Norfolk Council and Vicky Ford MEP to inspect the damage and come up with a plan to help people.

Tom visited the European Parliament to meet the British representatives at the European Young Farmers Congress. East Anglia has a lot of farming and it is good to encourage more young people to take up the job and feed the nation.

The ever active Tom has also been across the region campaigning in local markets with stalls such as this one. No doubt he is hammering the message home that only under the Conservatives will you be able to decide whether you want to be in the EU or out. This campaigning day was with Lucy Frazer who is the new South East Cambs PPC. 

Tom went to the Rochford and Southend CF Soap Box night with Geoffrey Van Orden MEP and Jackie Doyle Price MP. Also there was YBF heartthrob Rory Broomfield from the Freedom Association and Alex Bright, NUCA's own treasurer.

Tom here is showing solidarity with Essex University CF who have campaigned to repeal the ban on flying the Union Flag on top of their university library. Essex SU voted to ban the flag because it apparantly symbolised Britain's colonial past, of course that's just Leftie nonsense. Click here for more on this story.

Tom also visited the University of East Anglia's freshers fair to promote the Conservative message on campus. The photo is taken with Chloe Smith MP and two members of the CF group. Tom has been to every university freshers fair in the East.

And finally here is Tom with Dave, who visited Norwich in January. I love Tom's tie by the way; let's hope it becomes a feature of the campaign trail.

Make sure you vote for Tom and the Conservatives in the European Elections later this year.