Monday, 16 March 2009

Guest Post - BUCF

Tory Bear has a hectic week so he will be throwing in the odd guest post over the next few days. Daniel O'Doherty is the Chairman of Birmingham University CF and talks here about how to regenerate a branch and build better communications with student unions. Always somewhere to cause some amusing mischief...

First of all may I say what a delight and privilege it is to have been invited by TB to write for this fantastic blog. The topic I have been asked to speak on is one that is never far away from a young Conservatives thought: student politics. When I took over as President of Birmingham University Conservative Future our relations with our Guild and the conservative associations in our local area were close to collapse after a series of mistakes and bad fortune. Within just 2 days of taking over I was told we were facing derecognising from the Guild and to add to our woes the incoming committee found that our membership was largely demoralised and inactive which made our task to fight back against this derecognition all the more difficult.

Faced with the prospect of our humiliating forced removal from the Guild I had to take the immediate decision to ‘jump before pushed’ in order to save what remained of the society’s face. I therefore held a referendum of our members which voted for severing all ties with the Guild. However over the summer period I had time and course to reflect on this decision. Having thought long and hard I realised that despite my own distaste for guild/student politics, which incidentally I see as one Scargill short of the NUM, the long term interests of the society would not be advanced by derecognition or distancing from the guild… as much as we might have liked to believe otherwise.

I wholeheartedly sympathise with our young conservative counterparts across the country who are facing similar dilemmas within their own student’s unions and suffer from similar temptations to ‘cut and run’. As most of us will agree these places are more often than not bastions of self seeking, self righteous individuals who use their morally superior twoddle to devalue and demoralise us conservatives. They seem at times to have little if any grasp of the real world and instead prefer to shield themselves between the sheets of their Guardian newspapers. Therefore a conservative would naturally be inclined to ask; why should we want to be part of such a grouping? The truth is we have to be a part of it.

In order to reassert BUCF’s rightful place in the Guild I had to take some often unpleasant and unpopular actions which required a large degree of humility and yes, tongue biting. By far the hardest was having to address Guild Council against a pretty damn hostile backdrop however their anger and hostility toward me only made me more resolute and forceful, yet at the same time humble and reconciliatory, in my arguments. In the end it worked in our favour and we survived our derecognition procedure with a margin of 69% - 30% with 1% abstention.

From then on, our position within the Guild has been strengthened and secured. We created the new role of ‘Guild officer’ on our committee to emphasise our commitment to student politics and I am delighted to announce that one of our members has stood for Guild Council in the Guild Elections that have been taking place all this week. The results are due soon and with a bit of luck we could have our first elected Conservative on Guild Council in a number of years. This marks a massive turn around in our fortunes from last year. The fundamental point of all this is that assuming Timm is elected, the Conservatives could have a real chance to influence change on our Guild that would never have been possible in ‘political exile’.

The second pillar of our move toward reform has been in our local area. Leading figures of the Conservative party in our local area, Edgbaston, have told me over the years how frustrated they have been at some committee’s attitude toward the local area and associations. It was the belief of some BUCF committees that we, as students, had no place getting involved in local politics and our role must be confined to the student body. Utter tosh. Every Conservative Future society has a vital role to play in the future of the part as a whole and this has always been a potent part of my wider agenda for the society. This ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality which I know is practised by many in CF must end. We are all in this for the same purpose and we must remember that.

In this light, having previously had a good personal relationship with members of Edgbaston Conservative Association which incidentally is a crucial swing seat, I made it my mission to reaffirm our links with them and attend more of their socials/campaign days with our members. After a slow start our effort was rewarded when we were enshrined on their committee in a permanent role with voting rights on matters affecting the Edgbaston constituency and association. Furthermore our members now take regular and active involvement of our local associations much to their delight.

All of these reforms which have not always been easy have ensured BUCF remains in a strong position in both our local area and on our campus. It has not always been easy and as ever there is a hell of a lot more to do. However the reforms we have pushed through, which at times have gone against our natural instincts, have ensured the society’s longevity. We have made it our mission to strike that most careful and crucial of balances by remembering that we are both a Conservative and student society. For too long have the two been seen as separate even conflicting entities. The truth is we can achieve more from within than on the periphery.

Instead of retreating from our unions or our local areas or believing we have to prioritise one over the other as we have been so tempted to do in the past, we must embrace both and where we face opposition we must, in the words of Mrs Thatcher, “win the battle of ideas”. Embrace your union, engage with your local area and energise your members with a string of political and, most crucially, social events in tune with the student body. That is how to make a strong society worthy of the Conservative cause.


Dan and co blog regularly at
www.bucf.co.uk


If you would like to write a guest post, send 400-700 words to editor@torybear.com asap.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

note for the next guest blogger or blog: short is sweet! Its a blog, not an essay writing competition..

David Kelly said...

Personally, I thought it was O.K.

BUCF have a lot to chirp about, with justification. They seem a decent bunch of guys, and have done more to reach out to campaigning Conservatives elsewhere in Birmingham than at any time I can remember. The next BUCF Exec. will have a lot to live up to in that respect.

Sahar Rezazadeh
said...

A brilliantly written account of the changing BUCF-Guild relations.

President Dan has made a lot of sacrifices and given fantastic dedication to bring the society where it is today. Great work Dan!! I am running for the presidency in May and if voted in look forward to continuing the work of Dan, with his support of course.

The opportunity to lead such a well-grown conservative society is a privilege.

Anonymous said...

I feel that Dan is over-emphasising the reform he has supposedly presided over by making it sound as if BUCF was stubborn and unwilling to get involved in local campaigning until he took over.

"It was the belief of some BUCF committees that we, as students, had no place getting involved in local politics and our role must be confined to the student body."

As a member of the BUCF committee as recently as 2005, I can confirm that it is utter rubbish. I, along with numerous others, spent hours pounding the streets of Edgbaston, Bournbrook and Harborne before local, Euro and general elections.

Yes, it was harder to rally large groups of canvassers in the pre-DC, pre-2005 election days, but I can assure Dan that there was no hint of "reluctance to get involved".

Methinks Dan has a slightly over-inflated view of his influence...

Dan
said...

Me thinks anyone who prefers to hide behind 'anonymous' should be dismissed. If you really stand by these views then you should own up and state who you are. Hiding behind anonymity reveals your reluctance to defend your arguments against a retort from myself and the members of this committee who have had a bloody difficult task even by the previous chairmans admission. Havin said this I am not seeking publicity so if you wish to get in contact with me privately and express the same views I shall be more than happy to discuss your issues with you.... if you're willing to own up to them.

Dan
said...

Oh and I forgot to add if you read the quote you quoted from me you will see I said 'SOME committees', not all, SOME. Furthermore if youd read the assessments of other local conservatives such as Derek Johnson and a commentor on this post David Kelly to name just a few you will see there is general agreement that BUCF, under this committee, "have done more to reach out to campaigning Conservatives elsewhere in Birmingham than at any time I can remember". That is the reality of it. You can suggest it is over inflated but you would almost certainly be isolated in your opinion.

Alex said...

As a relatively new member I must admit Im not too clued up on previous BUCF policy but I can say that the current team has been exceptional

Daniel Cowdrill
said...

This is addressed to the individual who commented critically.

If you insist on forcing cross comparisons. Here's my own:

I entered the BUCF committee in 2006. There was scant evidence of any CF on campus.

Dan, as Chair of CF since 2008, has done more for BUCF than you clearly did. This is patently obvious to me, having inherited the CF in a pittyful state in 2006 with a total membership of three.

There have been a string of improvements since, and the society has gone from strength to strength. It is now a major CF branch, with a strong membership, numerically able to elect a committee of seven committed and talented individuals.

Gareth said...

The current team have done a fantastic job but as ever there is much to do. BUCF is in a much better position to challenge the challenges ahead

Dan
said...

Look, I appreciate all the warm words that we have recieved however I think that should be an end to it now. I disagree wholeheartedly with 'anonymous's' opinion (and clearly he/she isnt too sure of it as they prefer to hide behind anonymity!) however this is not a lynching session. He/she has their opinion we have ours. End of. There are much more interesting things to comment on TB's blog than this lol!

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