Campaigning with Mary Macleod

Mary Macleod, PPC for Brentford and Isleworth held a campaigning day across her constituency on Saturday. We were blessed with clear skies until around half four and a fine spread of food!

The group of local MP's PPC's ,including Justine Greening, are all agreed on a strategy to oppose the expansion of Heathrow. In Mary's words:

"My personal view is very simple. I am a business woman so I am certainly not against business growth and expansion. The problem here, is that future expansion at Heathrow Airport will affect the lives of thousands of residents and have huge implications on the environment and the quality of life of the local community"

Having been there for just a day, it did strike me how noisy and constant the planes were. One resident commented on the dichotomy the expansion presents: she herself had benefitted from BA shares and the employment opportunities Heathrow provides but she was frustrated at the constant level of noise generated by the overhead flightpath.

It is issues such as these that reinforce my belief that the winning elections is all about local issues, which is why it is so important to re-build and expand CF at a local level.

Douglas Carswell & UCL Libertarians

I missed the NW London drinks night as I had 'one of those days' at work and only managed to get to the UCL Libertarians' event with Doug Carswell.

I am very much a Classic Liberal/ Libertarian Tory and believe the political battle for our generation will be over issues of freedom, liberty and privacy, which are all intrinsically linked.

The fiasco regarding the negligent loss of data proves how dangerous a large, pervasive database state can be. We are heading into a true information age yet have a Government and administration that is clueless when it comes to protecting our privacy.

By reducing the influence of the state, as we Conservatives should instinctively encourage, I believe we will deliver a more prosperous, affluent and happier society.

UCL Question Time

Mark Coote, PPC for Cheltenham and Fund Raising Director for Cancer Research UK, and Nick Webb, Gloucestershire and Bristol CF Area Chairman, were both on the panel with me at UCL's Question Time.

A huge range of questions were asked over the hour and half, from conscription to the EU treaty to the BNP. No questions on tax, oddly enough!

Nick reviews the night here and the UCL post is here. I thought the evening was a tremendous success! The responses from the panel were similar but had some points of divergence...we're a broad church, remember!

I was particularly pleased with the questions from the floor: some serious, wide-ranging questions were pitched and it was good to reply with some opinions that aren't always voiced at Conservative events!

CF Green Action Day/ Stand Up, Speak Up

I went back to my old stomping ground in the North East of England to help out with a social project and attend a debate with some CF members in the Tynemouth. Having lived and worked there for three years, I understand not only many of the social problems the Nort East suffers from but also the relative isolation that many Tories can suffer.

I'm glad to see there are so many target seats that we are fighting hard for in the region. Wendy Morgan, PPC, and Matthew Page, of Consult, led the debate which covered a range of topics that affect young people. The usual issues of interaction, drug abuse and a lack of aspiration came up.

The North East is an interesting area as there are pockets of staunch Tories. We'll know we have a chance of forming a Government when we win seats outside of our traditional areas.

Thanks to Bethany Lightley for all the work she put in to arrange the day and for her CF work in general.