Exclusive: #ThingsAlastairCampbellSays

I've been wanting to put this up for a long time but havn't got round to it till now. #ThingsElliottSays during party conference, with help from the slick Alex Bright, I got an interview with Bad Al (better known as Alastair Campbell). The interview took place whilst he was signing his books at the conference. He joked to me that he was able to do this because "I'm a man, I can multi task". I was also very pleased with the interview because I held up the BBC for 10 mins, who also wanted Alastair Campbell to comment on the Tory Conference.

Just before the interview Nadim, the interim Chair at Nottingham Trent, took a picture of Bad Al behind his back. He noticed this and said to Nadim that he doesn't have to be all secretive about taking photos of him. Nadim then said, in the most creepy way possible, "I'm stalking you from afar". There's a register for people like Nadim I think and it's not the Team 2015 mailing list; it's the Labour Party membership database (he clearly loves Alastair Campbell so much).

Nadim's stalker photo.

Anyway on to the Interview. Bad Al is infamous for Iraq so I wanted to ask him about Syria and what he thought about military intervention.

Bad Al: "When Assad used chemical weapons and Obama was saying chemical weapons was a red line and the red line has been crossed he's got to do something about it. As things have turned out maybe that we end up with a situation where Assad is disarmed and there won't need to be military action. But I think that it still remains to be seen because I think the Russians are playing quite a tricky and clever game. But I think there is no doubt that in America and in Britain and in most major democracies the appetite for putting the military at any sort of risk is small. This is partly down to people's feelings about Iraq and Afghanistan; there's too much war and people cannot necessarily understand the link. It still remains to be seen how this will work out but we cannot be too complacent. Added to this is the way people mock George Bush when talking about the War on Terror but as you saw in Nairobi there is a sense this being a really tricky point in history."

I then asked him again about whether the hesitation on Syria was actually a good thing.

Bad Al: "When it happened it must be fair to say I was closer to the Cameron position than the Labour position because of the point about the red line. I think if the leader of the developed world and western world says red line and after the red line is crossed nothing happens then it will be very difficult. But like I say, sometimes things don't necessarily pan out as you envisaged then and what Putin did very, very, and I hate to say it, very cleverly was he got the Syrians into a position. Meanwhile Obama is developing this trap on Iran which is quite interesting."

I then turned to Red Ed and then asked whether his plans to 'bring back socialism' was a lurch to the left. The spin Dr span away to say he didn't.

Bad Al: "Well I don't buy this idea that a government taking action to address the fact the energy market is not serving the consumer as left wing. I think the one thing that happens in this country is the right wing still has the ability to get out that message because most newspapers are owned by very right wing, tax exiled, billionaires. To me Ed Miliband's speech was not a lurch to the Left at all I thought if anything it was one of the most centrist speeches he made. For example if you go back to 1997 we did the New Deal. With the privatised utilities we taxed what we deemed to be the excess profits, which to a free market Capitalist you would say how can you have an excess profits? We labelled the excess profits put a windfall tax on it and we used the money to fund a youth employment programme. Now by the Right Wings definition of Ed Miliband our policy was way to the Left of his. So I don't by that at all."

I then said to Alastair Campbell that Red Ed at least has a PR problem which is a major road block to him being elected.

Bad Al: "My experiences is that once people start to say perception then people are not listening to the real argument. He will get viciously attacked by the right wing media same as Neil Kinnock did and Michael Foot did."

I then interjected and said the two key things about Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock is that they never got elected. The spin Dr was stumped for a little while but then continued.

Bad Al: "But, my point is the way the world has changed, the way the media world has changed. I think it's much easier for politicians to get the message out without that because of the Twittersphere because of the social networks and so on. I'll give you an example from last week when ASDA and Tesco were selling these mental patient Halloween costumes, we got them taken off the shelves in three hours through Twitter."

My thanks goes to Alastair Campbell for giving me this interview. He was very kind in person; but never forget what he did in the Blair Government. Him and Damien McPosion are responsible for some very nasty politics.

#CPC13 Day 1

So it's my first ever conference and the first day was amazing. Here is a sum up of the day. 

The first thing I saw was all the lefties on the march through the centre of Manchester demanding no cuts to government and the economic collapse of Britain, a very good idea. There were also some smaller groups at the entrance of the conference from the NHS Party to people warning us about milk. The Badger people were also there telling  us about how the country is now run by the National Framer's Union, which I was not aware of. Indeed a giant badger started stalking us later shouting 'tally ho' and other hunting phrases, its 'what ho' not 'tally ho'. the protestors were quite extreme but Colonel Cooper and Mahyar 'Shadow' Tousi got the worst of it. 

But onto what really matters, the conference itself. I spent the day with Nadim Muslim and Alex Bright, forming a Nottingham trio, and we went around some of the fringe stalls. The best freebees on offer were the TSB bags which contained some rock, which has sold me into opening a new account. We voted in the Daily Politics mood box on the question of 'who was the strongest leader Cameron or Thatcher?'. Some mad people believed that Cameron was stronger than Thatcher, I hope they were pointed to the mental health stands. We also saw Elvis at the fringe singing to a lady having a coffee.

We had fun in the main hall too. We were a few rows in front of the action with Philip Hammond when it all kicked off about the 2nd Royal Fusiliers and here is the video that I got of it. Sadly I forgot to bring an SD reader to conference so I am using other people's photos.

William Hague however was the main player of the day for us. He gave the best speech today at conference, despite his cold, and told us about how with a growing Foreign Office presence across the world the UK is becoming a bigger global player every day. As we left the Hall I also met William Hague and congratulated him on his speech to which he thanked me for. Later on he popped up again at the Friends of Gibraltar event where he and the Chief Minister of Gibraltar gave a speech on how Gibraltar will remain British and not used as a bargaining chip with Spain like under the last Labour Government. #Sound.

Loving Mrs Hague's shoes.

At the Gibraltar event we met Andrew Rosindell MP, the Chief Finance Minister for Jersey, Philip Hammond (who had recovered from the protests) and the great Jacob Rees Mogg. Indeed we bumped into several MPs during the day including Robert Halfon who said he reads my blog. But the best chance meeting was Grant Shapps who had dinner with us at Nandos. We talked about Team 2015 (which Dave really loves) and how the party has really sharpened up its image, if this continues we will be in a great position for the General Election. 

Dinner with Grant Shapps

So that's the first day of conference. I'll be back tomorrow with more things to say about #CPC13. 

Exclusive: Sneak Preview of Tory Party Political Broadcast

A short while ago I told you about how I was at the filming of the new party political broadcast for the Conservatives. Back then its was all very hush hush so I only released two photos. Well here is the full lot considering it will be shown soon anyway and so there's no need to keep a secret.

The plot is that we are setting up a campaign stall and promoting how the Conservatives are for hard working people, the theme of #CPC13, through a new website being launched by the party. I wonder what the finished product will be like?

Back and Then Gone

I'm back after a break of a few days. Why, you may ask, were there no postings? Well it's because, between watching several episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus, I was unable to write from the shock of the Labour Party Conference.

You may remember that I wrote about how Red Ed is "bringing back socialism", well he really is. Labour are proposing price controls on Energy Companies, the Nationalisation of land not built upon by developers and the Royal Mail, raids on pensions through the pretence on a tax on bankers and the return to high taxes for all when we all know that the lower the taxes are the more money the government gets.

And why are they doing this? It's all because of Union control. Ed Miliband who was elected by them is now promising a return to an age where unaccountable Trade Unions were powerful over the people. Where unions could stop a country economically, nurses refused to treat people and corpses were unburied. The good old age of Socialist Britain, hey. I bet Len McLuskey is pleased though.

At least we can start filling in this empty book.

This is a stupid move for Ed Miliband because people don't want socialism. It's becoming clearer by the day as policy announcements unwind that this is a failed plan and many in Labour recognise this. Chuka Umunna, Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper are opposed to Ed's energy plans and so are Peter Mandleson and Tony Blair, who knows how Labour can win elections. Ed Miliband is going out of his way so much to make a 2015 Conservative Majority more likely. 

So what now for me? Well I'm off to conference to see Dave and chums tell us all what they have planned for a Conservative victory. I'm much looking forward to seeing friends and mocking Nadim Muslim, interim chair at Nottingham Trent, for his excellent photo on his pass. I want to do a few posts during conference but this may not happen because I want to be doing as much as possible. So see you in Manchester. 

Great Picture Nadim.

P.S. If you're dying to see the results of the weekly poll, I'll announce the results of the weekly poll on Thursday and do a short poll on Conservative Conference after that.

Exclusive: Next Party Political Broadcast

Today I went with Jamie, Jenny, Felipe and other prominent local Conservatives to film the next Party Political Broadcast. This will be shown during the Conference on the BBC and ITV as well as in the hall. I will put up all the backstage photos closer to the date but just to tempt you here are two photos of the day.

Photo Courtesy of @JennyWhoJenny

With Ken.