Campaigning Queen Kude Would Bring London CF Closer To 2015 Victory

These CF elections have featured one major imperative, the ability to win in 2015. Charlotte Kude, who is standing to be London CF Chairman, is one of those exceptional Conservatives who has the ability bring 2015 victory that little bit closer. Kude loves a good party but would be the best person to lead campaigning into the next General Election in the capital.

Kude told #ThingsElliottSays about how much work she has put into campaigning and Road Trip 2015*. "Before Road Trip was created I used to go campaigning every weekend, at least Saturdays and sometimes Sundays too, mainly in target seats. In London but also across the country, I tried to help in the most vulnerable seats in the West Midlands and as far as in the North East too. Then I got involved with Road Trip and at the same time continued to support friends standing for council and Euro-Candidates during the locals and Europeans, which sometimes meant going out during the week as well."

Kude also has a great experience in organisation as well as being a foot soldier on the streets. She said to #ThingsElliottSays "I certainly intend to take the lead with campaigning in London and personally keep in touch with the target constituencies. This work can only be done properly by surrounding myself with the best possible people, dedicated campaigners but also good organisers. I have learnt a great deal on that front with Road Trip, from bringing as many new people as possible to each action day to sorting out transport and accommodation for them and making sure everyone feels part of the team. It has to be a two way deal, you can't simply ask people to turn up without them getting anything in return."

If you want to know who could lead London CF to General Election success look no further than Charlotte Kude.

*The campaigning phenomenon that has showed that partying and leafleting are synonymous.

Exclusive: KCL Conservatives Back Kude

The Kings College London Conservatives have come out and backed Charlotte Kude to be Chairman of London CF.

The Vice President, Josh Boyle, on behalf of the society has told #ThingsElliottSays "King's College Conservatives are delighted to announce their endorsement of Charlotte Kude as London CF Chair. She has some very sound ideas, and we look forward to working with her closely should she be elected."

Charlotte seems to have gained a lot of support during her time as North-West London CF Chair and this has turned into on the ground support from major hitters* in the capital. She has told #ThingsElliottSays that the support she is getting from KCL's Tories "is fantastic news, the support of KCLCS will be vital to my campaign and I look forward to working closely with them if elected as London Chair."

*Major for CF anyway.

Exclusive: #ThingsKudeSays

#ThingsElliottSays has done an interview Charlotte Kude who is running to be London CF Chairman. Charlotte is a well respected and currently North West London CF Chairman.

1) How do you think the campaign is going at the moment? 

I must say I am very happy with the way the campaign is going at the moment; all candidates seem to be behaving rather professionally, at least compared to campaigns in previous years. 

2) Do you have any special plans for your campaign in the future?

Our current interim London CF Chairman Thomas Borwick is planning to host an informal hustings, with the date soon to be confirmed. I intend to meet as many London CFers as possible until the end of the campaign to make sure everyone's concerns are understood, and I certainly don't exclude a thank you party if I'm fortunate enough to win this election! 

Charlotte with the new Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan MP.

3) What is the number one thing you would do if elected as London CF Chair? 

If elected, the priority would be to surround myself with the best possible team. I want a more organised and efficient executive, able to meet the challenge of a general elections campaign. But equally I also want it to be representative of CF in London, which means including members from all areas and backgrounds, both students as well as young professionals. 

4) If elected how will you prepare CF for the General Election in London? 

We need to make sure everyone is included in the process and involve students, parliamentary researchers and other young professionals in the campaign. Ten months is a very short period of time to make a difference in a general election which is why we will have to make good use of all possible resources we can have to support our target seats. Big campaign days will be organised in these key marginals, and relevant training provided. But it's also important that everyone feels rewarded for their hard work with some opportunities to relax and network, so socialising will definitely play a key part in winning the elections.

5) What campaigning experience do you have? 

Campaigning is definitely my main strength as a candidate. I've both organised myself and taken part in a great number of action days across the country, focusing primarily on target constituencies or those in need of more help. In my role as Chairman of North-West London CF I regularly support various MPs and parliamentary candidates in 40/40 London seats such as Hampstead & Kilburn, Sutton & Cheam or Brentford & Isleworth. More recently, as a Roadtrip2015 coordinator, I also helped organise a big campaign day in Enfield North, which was attended by over 130 activists as well as multiple other road trips around the country.

Thanks Charlotte.

Dave taking a much better selfie that usual with Kude.

Exclusive: Tube Trip 2015

Tube Trip 2015, an obvious spin off from Road Trip 2015, has now been set up. It aims to get London 100s CFers campaigning across, and just outside, the capital en masse in order to win very important marginal seats.

The Road Trip to Enfield North brought over 130 Conservative foot soldiers to the North of London.

London has a lot of marginal seats the Conservatives need to win to form the next government. Hampstead and Kilburn for example is the most marginal seat in the country with a Labour majority of only 42. But there are lots of others connected to the tube. Brentford and Isleworth, Enfield North, Hendon, Watford, Sutton and Cheam are all seats the Conservatives need to take or hold to win the next General Election.

The Conservatives need to win more seats in London than they did in 2010. Will Tube Trip 2015 hold the answer?

I predict this to be very successful. There are great Thatchers* of Conservatives up and down London. Hundreds of activists are ready and able to leaflet and canvass the most marginal places. All they need is direction, and that will be given by Tube Trip 2015.

Road Trip founder Mark Clarke found in the background on John Major's defeat speech in 1997.

The same successful principles of Road Trip 2015 applies. Campaign, free curry, party. The only difference is this time instead of minibuses and trains all campaigners will need is an Oyster Card, which everyone in London has. Transport is a lot easier and with London prices being so high a free curry worth a lot. I suspect that Tube Trip 2015 will take place a bit more often than its bigger brother Road Trip 2015 as well. All in all expect there to be a mass take up, I bet the Lib Dems and Labour are a bit nervous.

This should also be a revolution for London CF in general. A fair percentage of CFers in the capital
boast about never leaving zone 2. Getting these people to campaign as far 'north' as Watford or Enfield North is a milestone.

Bring on Tube Trip 2015. The first stop is Croydon Central with Gavin Barwell MP on the 19th July. Like there Facebook page here.

*The official name for a group of Conservatives.

Boris Says 'Get Stuffed' to Assembly Member

Boris loses his rag at opposition assembly members over plans to change the London Fire Service. Go get them Boris.

Tony Robinson Stops HS2

I like Archaeology, it's a hobby of mine. So I was interested to see that in London a Black Death pit was found. What's even better is this was found when constructing the HS2 rail link.

Archaeology is mostly tax payer funded, although it is getting more common for sponsorship from companies. Quarrying and oil companies use environmental data as it helps them decide whether to set up shop there. Also it is compulsory to have an archaeological survey for something the size of HS2 when being built, especially when it is in London. London itself is one massive museum and underground are some many fantastic and important discoveries to be made.

My suggestion is this. Why not explore London's history to the maximum. It is a great city, as Boris always says, and you can never know too much about its past. So let's find out more. We should force for an extremely detailed survey to be done of the HS2 route. Let's get to know the area really well along the HS2 route and force a very long survey that would hold it up for ages. Or better still make HS2 take a route of historical areas so we get to know even more, and waste the time of the builders. Maybe government will stop it then, or by the time it finishes a more sensible government will scrap it. Archaeological investigations across the HS2 route will also save money because, whatever the bill for the digs will be, it is certainly cheaper than building an irrelevant railway.

Let's get Tony Robinson and Time Team on the scene to stop HS2. 

You ‘Great Supine Protoplasmic Invertebrate Jellies’

The Socialists of London have kicked off today by trying to stop Boris passing his budget. Essentially because Boris is an elected mayor he needs two thirds of the members of London Assembly to have his plans voted down. The Conservatives are only 1 seat away from anti-Boris Labourites, Illiberal Democrats and Green Autocrats actually being able to join forces and stop these votes.

Unfortunately for Boris one Tory member was late to the assembly meeting today, which was crucial in passing the £16.5 billion budget for London. So the opposition tried an opportunistic coup to stop the budget and voted to skip Boris’ question time in order to move quickly to the budget vote. However, this didn't quite work as you can see in the video as the Tory member dashes in at the end. The budget did pass.

Boris called the members of the assembly 'great supine protoplasmic jellies' and rightly so for their lack of political scrutiny on matters. Of course this is just politics and they don't like Boris or his budget that will grow London. This failure to stop the budget has been hailed as a victory by Jenny Jones, a Green Assembly Member with eco-maniac with communist tendencies. Bit odd that, weird concept of victory.

To me this could be seen as a growing confidence in Britain's Left boosted by success with the work programme and tax evasion, notably of Starbucks. All of these of course were brought to the attention of the public of the Socialist Workers Party who went into places of work and protested so that no business could take place. Of course there is also the action against all government cuts and this seemed to be the main focus of budget problems for Boris as he is having to close 12 fire stations in London. But it’s actually tough times. I’d rather central government shaved more off welfare than having to close fire stations but because it seems politically impossible because of the Liberals and a very confused George Osborne. Boris has taken the only right decision to make cuts.

N.B. I thought the 'supine' was a Latin grammatical term till Boris said this.