The Rock Blog

The whole NME have been working very hard since the election; today saw the first full meeting of the National Management Executive at CCHQ - future meetings will be taking place around the country.

As it was the first meeting we had a lot to discuss (pointed out by the fact the meeting ran for nearly 4 hours!) and plan. We made great ground, including sorting out the vacant Area Chairman positions, and are firmly ready to push ahead!

More details to come…

Click here for information on your NME.

The new executive are working hard on our plans for the year and one of our first priorities is to fill all the vacancies for Area Chairman roles. This position is going to become the most important role in our organisation.

In future, the Area Chairman will take the lead on: organising National Days, organising regional meetings, supporting branches and providing feedback to the NME and CCHQ. The Area Chairman will spearhead CF, not the NME who are going to act as a support service and as facilitators.

For more information on standing to become an Area Chairman please visit the Conservative Future website.

www.conservativefuture.com

This also ties in with my plans to make the CF website the main information point for the organisation - this blog will give information relating to my role and how my plans & jobs progress through the year.

The Party have today launched recruitment campaign across the whole country - “You can get it if you really want” (with a video being launched exclusively on Facebook). I think this is a brilliant idea and not before time. With the news that Michael Vaughn was putting the video together I was hoping for a kind of cross between David Cameron and Big Chris taking on Gordon Brown…alas this did not happen! But it did deliver a message of aspiration, which Labour seem to have completely forgotten about and is at the heart of conservatism.

I am not egotistical enough to think the Party have copied my plans, but this is exactly what I have been talking about for the last 6 months, we need to break down boundaries to membership and expand Conservative Future drastically. A ‘friends of the Conservatives’ is a very good way of doing this.

I have a similar plan for national membership - open up CF membership nationally (whilst local branches can set their own fee price) so that people can join for free. I know a lot of members that had apprehensions about getting involved with the Tories - once they were in though they have all loved it and never looked back. We can do this all over the country and drastically increase the size of Conservative Future within a few years.

CF should also be the organisation that is leading and helping the Party through the internet revolution. A proper ’supporters’ page, similar to the one setup for this campaign, for CF would be one of the first moves I would implement.

Let’s lead, not follow, the Party into power - vote Rock4CF!

I am sorry that I have not commented on these issues sooner - my travels to CF events in Nottingham and Newcastle have delayed this slightly.

I am obviously very disappointed about the recent news of ballot paper problems and the CCHQ issue. It has once again soured the CF elections and we will all be worse off because of it. Looking at what has happened if has further reinforced my desire to make CF better and I believe it reinforces my argument for a real, tangible shift in power.

The main reason I am standing for CF Chairman is so that we can all move away from this - members are sick to death of all this London-centric in-fighting that has held us back for many years. This is why I am pushing for CF to be regionalised: the force behind CF needs to come from a local level. Yes CCHQ will always “play a part” in our organisation, but we need to focus on local issues, local campaigning and local members.

Regarding the Michael Lunn situation specifically, I believe the issue has been dealt with internally. I trust the Party Board to act appropriately. I do not think that the evidence put forward is conclusive; there are obviously two sides to this story.

On the ballot issue, it all comes down to the condition of the CF members list - it was very out of date and needed a huge amount of effort and time to update it. I want a proper database for the membership and believe this election, and the work the ERS has done, will make this result much easier. I am not happy that a lot of members have not got a ballot yet, but hope that by the end of the election they will have. The obvious benefit of outsourcing is that ERS is responsible for righting any wrongs, both at their expense and on their time. If CCHQ had run the election, then we would have more reason to complain.

The most important thing is to move ahead, restore power to the members and make Conservative Future the local & conservative organisation it should be! This episode is damaging for CF and for the Conservative Party. We run the risk of this being blown out of all proportion. I hope the matter is allowed to die down before there is any further coverage, we are gaining nothing by it.

I look forward to any ‘constructive’ comments members have relating to my views on this issue.

Nominations have now closed and my nomination has been accepted. This now means that I am ‘Officially’ standing to become the next National Chairman of Conservative Future.
 
My plans for CF focus on returning power and influence back to the key people in CF: the Area Chairman, branch Chairman and CF members. I see that out of the possible 43 Area’s we only have 21 filled by candidates - this really is not good enough. Our Area Chairman need to be a pivotal role for CF and the ones driving th organisation ahead. In the last CF year we have had 7 Areas without Chairman. The current NME have been in power for over 18 months and have not been able to fill these. This is tremendously disappointing.

If elected I will aim to fill all Area Chairman roles within one month of the handover. This is key to my plans and will take precedent for the new NME. I have already started to look for possible Area Chairman to speed this process up - these names will be passed onto whoever wins the election. If you are interested, please email me with your details: michael@rock4cf.com
 
I have been campaigning in the CF elections since last September and have thoroughly enjoyed every moment - travelling around the country meeting CF members and enjoying several drinks with you! Very few organisations can offer the spectrum of beliefs and ideas we have in CF, it is a real privilege to be standing and know I have the skills and professionalism to make our organisation great again!

Don’t settle for the same old talk, lets make progressive changes to CF that will improve both our social side and our campaigning force!

Vote Rock4CF!

Nick Webb has been running a CF Election poll on his blog (http://nicolaswebb.blogspot.com/), which many of you may have seen and, possibly, voted in!

As Nick openly admitted at the start, it isn’t a scientific poll so Mike Rouse has decided to set up a more structured and rigorous poll for the election. You have to register via his website so you can obtain a ‘token’ to vote.

If you’re interested, please sign up here:
http://www.mikerouse.net/2008/01/17/cf-2008-national-elections-reliable-polling/

I like the concept of the Young Briton’s Foundation and am pleased to see how well ‘Comrade’ Blaney has done over the last year! (If you don’t know Donal, he’s little bit to the right of centre!)

2007 has been a great year for them and to celebrate, Donal invited all the attendees of this year’s YBF Conference for mince pies and mulled wine. I hate mince pies, btw, revolting things, and mulled wine isn’t much better

But it was a very jolly evening and the East India is not too shabby a venue at all. It was almost enough to get me in the Christmas spirit…

To CF Area & University and Branch Chairman,

Free CF Branch Website - from the Rock4CF Campaign

www.rock.cfbranch.com

I am a candidate to become the next National Chairman of Conservative Future. I take the view of our Party – we can currently run social action projects, events and campaigns because these are methods that can stimulate interest in what we are doing, even whilst in Opposition. The same goes for the CF elections - I want CF to be bigger, better and bolder but we need to stimulate interest in our organisation. As a further commitment to getting all members involved in the organisation, I want to make sure the election campaigns of all candidates is given exposure to as many members as possible.

An organisation’s website is often its first referral point so it needs to be attractive and efficient to stimulate interest. To build and sustain a branch, members and potential members need to aware of news, events and developments within their locality: one of the main drivers for successful Conservative Future branches is communication. As Facebook has become such a success, it is even easier for the Chairman/President to get in touch with his/her members but Facebook is not enough by itself: we need to develop an independent online presence. Therefore, I am launching this offer to setup a free CF website for each and every branch that wants one, needs one or fancies a new design.

CF needs to become a much more professional organisation and the starting point for that is to ensure that every branch has effective communication methods in place. This is why I have already been working with MiLon Hosting who have setup CFBranch.com. They offer free website hosting to all University CF branches and are working with me to set up websites for any branch that wants one. Through this deal, the Rock campaign will setup a website for any branch - not just the Universities. A couple of working examples are Hereford.cfbranch.com
and Tooting.cfbranch.com

Get in touch with me (cfbranch@michaeldavidrock.com) and I will set up a website for your branch plus a Facebook presence if you want it. All the coding and technical stuff will be done for you so can focus on the message that matters in your area: once completed you will receive a link to your new website, plus instructions on how to run it! I ask that you pass this offer onto any branch you know or represent.

Thank you and lets work together to make CF bigger, bolder and better!

Michael David Rock
Candidate for CF National Chairman

CFBranch email : cfbranch@michaeldavidrock.com
rock.cfbranch.com

Personal email: michael@michaeldavidrock.com

www.michaeldavidrock.com

I joined anthem4england many moons ago as I think England should have its own national anthem, with my personal preference being Jerusalem. Some fine fellows have lodge a petition:

Anthem - epetition reply

16 November 2007

We received a petition asking:

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to initiate a Parliamentary debate on the adoption of a national anthem for England that is distinct from the British national anthem.”

Details of Petition:

“The British anthem - God Save the Queen - should not be sung by the English as an English anthem. It is disrespectful to England, Scotland and Wales to conflate England with Britain in this way; for England is a nation every bit as much as Scotland and Wales, and those Scots and Welsh that still consider themselves British are now obliged to boo their own anthem for fear of being regarded as traitors by an increasingly nationalistic tendency. http://anthem4england.co.uk/.”

* Read the petition
* Petitions home page

Read the Government’s response

There are currently no plans to introduce an official English anthem, but the Government recognises that the constituent parts of the United Kingdom may quite properly have national songs for which they have a particular attachment. However, the choice of anthem at sporting events is entirely a matter for the sport concerned. The English Cricket Board, for instance, made the decision to play ‘Jerusalem’ when the team took the field. Any such suggestions are best addressed to the relevant sport’s governing body.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the response is a cop-out. Alfie is on the case however…

I am proud to be British, I’m a Unionist, a Monarchist but I’m also English. I’m a fan of ‘God Save the Queen’ but it should be cherished as the UK’s national anthem, perhaps then there might be a strengthening of bonds between our increasingly dis-united Kingdom.

COUNCIL SPENDING UNCOVERED NO.1: PUBLICITY

* NEW SERIES TO REVEAL HOW COUNCILS REALLY SPEND THEIR MONEY
* AVERAGE PUBLICITY SPENDING DOUBLED TO £1 MILLION SINCE 1997

* TOTAL TOWN HALL PUBLICITY BILL £450 MILLION A YEAR

With council tax bills having doubled over the last ten years, the TaxPayers’ Alliance has launched a new series to review expenditure by local authorities in all corners of the UK and highlight areas of spending that could and should be reduced.

The Council Spending Uncovered series challenges the claim that Town Halls are short of money by publishing figures that will allow council taxpayers to decide for themselves whether their local authority is spending their money wisely. These figures have never previously been compiled in one place because the TPA is the first non-government body to have collected the accounts for all 450-plus councils.

The first paper in the Council Spending Uncovered series examines the increase in town hall spending on publicity over the last decade, which is itemised in the annual accounts of all councils.

Key findings

• The average local authority spends almost £1 million (£985,000) on publicity.
• The average local authority is spending double the amount on publicity than it did in 1996-97:
  • Without taking account of inflation the average local authority spent £430,000 on publicity ten years ago. The average spend today is a 130 per cent increase on that 1996-97 figure.
  • In today’s prices the average local authority spent £550,000 on publicity in 1996-97. The average spend today is an 80 per cent increase in real terms on a decade ago.
• The total local authority publicity bill is £450 million.
• There is one local authority, Birmingham City Council, that spends more than £10 million on publicity.
• There are 8 local authorities spending more than £5 million on publicity.
• There are 73 local authorities spending more than £2 million on publicity.
• There are 141 local authorities spending more than £1 million on publicity.
• The total spend on publicity is not broken down in a uniform way in the various local authority accounts. It is possible, however, to identify 44 councils that spend at least £1 million and 4 councils spending at least £2 million on staff recruitment advertising - despite the increased use of websites. If all local authority accounts provided a full breakdown of publicity spending, the number of councils spending at least £1 million on staff advertising would almost certainly increase.
• The doubling of average publicity spending per local authority in the last decade is extremely disappointing. There are, however, a number of councils that are actually spending less on publicity than ten years ago. For example:
  • Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Council spent £669,000 on publicity in 2006-07, down 11 per cent from the £751,000 spent in 1996-97.
  • In 2005-06, however, the council spent £1,030,000 on publicity, meaning that the 1-year fall in spending was 35 per cent.
  • If Hammersmith and Fulham can reduce publicity spending by 35 per cent in one year (in part by allowing advertising by local businesses in council publications) make other efficiency savings and reduce council tax by 3 per cent, then it must be possible for other councils to follow suit.

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:

“It’s important for council taxpayers to see just how their hard-earned money is being spent by town halls. With council tax doubling in the past decade, it’s extremely disappointing that councils have chosen to double their publicity budgets over the same period. With the internet cutting the cost of communication, it shouldn’t be difficult for local authorities to find savings in this area and bring council tax down.”

To discuss the research, please contact:

Corin Taylor, Research Director, on 07866 141110 or 0845 330 9554 (corin.taylor@taxpayersalliance.com)

Matthew Sinclair, Policy Analyst, on 07771 990174 or 0845 330 9554 (matthew.sinclair@taxpayersalliance.com)

Anyone from the Three Rivers area (Rickmansworth and Watford) who wants to get involved with the TPA, please email tpa@michaeldavidrock.com

I need to add nothing but my support to the following passage from NO2ID:

“The government thinks it is being clever. It will be registering people on the ID cards database when they apply for a passport or other official documents. You may have heard that the ID card is “voluntary”, but once your details are entered onto the ‘National Identity Register’ database they are there for life.

It is not just about a card. Once the details of your life are captured the government will be sharing them with and between an ever growing list of agencies and building an ever more detailed picture of your life. The HMRC disaster with child benefit records has shown just how dangerous that can be.

Millions of people now know that having their identity “managed” by the government is a bad idea. In just four weeks in 2005, more than 10,000 people pledged online to refuse to register for an ID card. You may have seen public figures declaring that they will go to prison rather than be registered.

The NO2ID Pledge is your opportunity to make a personal and public declaration that you will refuse to comply with government control of your identity. Keeping this promise means you avoid registration on the National Identity Register. It is a serious commitment. Though at the moment there is little to resist, the government is going to try and make life gradually more inconvenient if you don’t comply “willingly”. But with tens of thousands of others making the same declaration, life could get pretty inconvenient for the government too.

It is currently perfectly lawful to declare that you will not comply with the ID scheme. It is possible that refusal could be made a crime, but the government has shied away from that so far. If enough people say no, it will be impossible. There would not be enough courts to prosecute 100,000 resisters, let alone millions. Together, now, we can build a wedge of opposition that will jam the wheels of the ID scheme, and protect the personal privacy of everyone in the country.

The more people who commit themselves to resist, the more effective it is. Say no to ID and it becomes more difficult to put pressure on you and everyone else. Get your friends to pledge too, and everyone protects one another. If you say no, then ID cards will fail.”

Download your certificate here.

Brown is right in the, err, brown stuff. Vince Cable’s great quip about Brown’s transformation from ‘Stalin to Mr Bean’ is the stuff of political legend! Fantastic!

I’ve suffered over 10 years of my adult life under a Labour Government and I have never seem them so weak, disillusioned and in such rapid freefall. It is quite a pleasant experience!Brown is genuinely not up to the job, in terms of methodology, presentation or vision. For all of Blair’s weaknesses, and there were many, he could never be accused of being a poor politician. In fact, Blair’s greatest weakness was that he was too good a politician.

No-one will ever accuse the Mr Bean Brown of that.

Seriously, I’m thinking of getting all my news from The Daily Mash, instead of the Beeb, it makes just as much sense. 6 months in prison or 40 lashes for allowing children to call a teddy bear Muhammad?

Dr Khalid al Mubarak….said Ms Gibbons’ job as a teacher, as well as Britain’s diplomatic ties with Sudan, would also be taken into consideration.

Dr Mubarak said: “The way the British think of the teddy bear - as far as Christmas is concerned, and toys are concerned - we don’t have any teddy bears over here, so in Sudan, for us, it is a fierce and dangerous animal.”

The next thing will be censoring cartoons…..

Michael Lunn has already made a positive impact to CF and today saw the new, improved site launched at http://conservativefuture2007.blogspot.com/. It is a work in progress, I understand, but it is a tremendous improvement on the last site!

For those of us at the YBF conference at the weekend, the announcement of the election schedule wasn’t a surprise.

A point related to that is that, yes, I intend to run for CF National Chairman. Sam ‘outed’ me on CF Diary some weeks ago but I won’t launch my campaign until my nomination is confirmed. I have some sound, sensible ideas that have much more of professional, business approach to CF than we have seen for many years. The roles and organisation of CF are changing so much that a credible, defined strategy is needed to deliver real results over the next elected period.

I’ll keep you posted!