Wicked whispers...

In recent weeks with the Mandy come back, the NuLabour boyz have been back at the helm of the sinking Brown ship... Interesting to note then that Ed Balls' usual posistion next to the PM at these sorts of speeches has been usurped by ultra-Blarite James Purnell who whispered to Gordon throughout George Osborne's speech.

See for yourself

here.

WTF?

TB was rather surprised to find out he had been added to the

Hizb ut-Tahir

mailing list. Daily press briefings slagging of David Cameron's

"extremist"

views and generally laying into the Tories ping into his inbox. Now don't get me wrong but they bloody serious? 

Sorry but TB won't take lectures from an organisation that hates freedom, women and Israel. Can you please kindly remove him from your mailing list. TB has no time for the filth and lies that this organisation spreads. TB is sure you can continue with your crackpot dream of a world Islamic state without having to piss him off on a daily basis.

Go away.

Quote of the Day...

Tough competition today... Darling had some corkers but the prize really must go to Christian May: 

"Is cutting 3p off the price of McVities really going to cure this recession? No. The answer lies in flat tax my friend... but that is a debate for another day."

Cigarettes and alcohol

TB sadly missed this afternoon's fun of games around the Pre Budget Report. Having now got home to SkyNews it is clear to see that this sham tactic will soon unravel. Labour today announced their long term election strategy that will culminate in Brown going to the country in spring 2010 having fobbed off and bribed voters with gimmicks and cheques here and there. He might as well just post £20 pound notes instead of election material. Labour's frenzied and desperate struggle to remain in power will wound this nation at a critical time and don't for one second believe that the Brown and co are in this for the good of the country. The leaks and briefings before today were specifically designed to knock the Tories of course and try make George Osborne slip up. He survived though and put up a good response to this farce.

But somehow despite Mandy and Alistair pulling the strings Labour have still managed to cock this up. This attempt to buy voters can not and will not work. If Labour really were in it for the people then they would know that a 2.5% decrease in VAT is not going to solve a thing. Yes it might mean that the 52 inch plasma widescreen TV that you might have had your eye on for six months will be two hundred odd quid cheaper but that will not even be an option for the people the government should be helping. The VAT drop doesn't include food - the key area where people are struggling. The most insulting part of this charade however is the fact that the VAT cut will in part be funded by a RISE in fuel tax. 

What are they smoking in the Treasury?

Not only will the fuel duty rise but so will that on alcohol and fags. Lets move away for a second shall we from the cosiness of Westminster and the ridiculous head-in-the-clouds world our government lives in and look at who these rises are going to hit the hardest. Food, fuel, fags and booze - the four things that young people and people on lower incomes will spend most, if not all of their money on. They have now been spectacularly shafted by this government. No one wins with this budget - the poor get taxed more and the rich get taxed more. The government is deluded and no wonder the BBC pundits were describing this as

socialist budget

. 

Everyone pays, no one wins.

Outside Downing Street this morning...

Probably the worst chancellor in the world...

Just spotted this on

Prodicus

.. seems appropriate for today:

This is from commenter DominicJ at the 

Telegraph

. (07:58 on 24 November 2008)

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

"Because you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20."

Drinks for the ten now cost just $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got one dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that is how our tax system works.

The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction.
Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up any more. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

Ahh Bristo...

Conhome

is reporting that two term CF chairman 2003-05

Paul Bristow

has been selected to fight Middlesbrough South. The Hammersmith and Fulham councillor will be up against an 8000 odd Labour majority. Having coordinated Conservative Future's campaign in the 2005 election across the country, Paul will no doubt put up a solid fight...

TB would like to wish him the best of luck...

Lord Foulkes to run for Rector

Rumours have been circulating around Edinburgh University about possible candidates for

Rector

- a position held by Gordon Brown, Gladstone and Churchill in the past and unsuccessfully attempted by Boris Johnson three years ago. Tories on campus haven't forgotten the smarting defeat of Boris by Green former MSP Mark Ballard after the students association broke charity law and diverted student funds to fight a bitter and partisan campaign against a "dumb blonde".

The Edinburgh Evening News is

reporting

that the Labour club will be putting up the veteran peer and MSP Lord George Foulkes. TB understands an investigation is underway within

Edinburgh University Conservatives

to find out who leaked the candidates they had approached to stand - Jeremy Clarkson, David Davis and errrh Mark from Peep Show. Reports of this first emerged in

Student

- the campus newspaper and have now spread to the local press.

Whatever happens and whoever the candidates ultimately are, this is already gearing up to be big battle... TB will keep you updated.

That's more like it...

Exciting news from

Political Betting

: 

CONSERVATIVES 42% (-1)
LABOUR 31% (+1)
LIB DEMS 19% (+1)

ICM reports an 11% Tory lead

What second honeymoon was that Mr Brown? 

Promoted and Published on Behalf of Tory Bear

More Regional Coordinator rumours circulating, TB wasn't going to print the one about Dan Patterson signing off emails already as "Yorkshire Regional" as couldn't get secondary verification but seems the CF's blogging minx has

gone there.

Wrong though apparently.

TB is still waiting for the call... Come on guys please can TB have the South-East?

Saturday night in...

TB is exhausted after a hard day of leafleting some very high student tenement buildings, up and down the stairs all day. Just watching the X-Factor and having a quiet one tonight but a couple of things have caught his eye... 

Firstly over at the

Coffee House

they are reporting that JFK's daughter

Caroline

could be Obama's appointment to be his ambassador to London. Ummm let's just imagine what would happen if Brown sent an ambassador to Washington who had family connections that support and fund Al-Qaeda... it wouldn't go down too well would it? So why then is it acceptable to turn a blind eye to the Kennedy family connections to the IRA and their open support for the violent campaign of murder and terrorism in the troubles?

Secondly despite Gordon's denial yesterday, the

Mail

reveal that Mandelson is actively thinking about a General Election and in fact will be the one that decides when it will be. Scary. TB will be furious if it is early in the new year...

Something tells him that finals and an election will not be a good mix...

Reaction to the BNP membership leak...

One member takes the news particularly badly:

Classic stuff once again from the Fuehrerbunker.

It's a tenner...

The first limited edition Tory Bear t-shirt is now up for grabs for the bargin price of a tenner from

here.

TB gear...

New t-shirt designs are up on the

merchendise section

.

Over the next few weeks limited addition political t-shirts will be avaiable from here. Keep an eye out...

Dropped the prices too...

Support our troops

Now TB has had a crack at people shamelessly just nicking content from the YBF site for content for their blogs but past hatchets have been buried now and

this is worthy

of reproduction: 

All over the country, left wing Students’ Unions are making ‘political statements’ by trying to block the OTC from operating and recruiting on campus. This. Is. Wrong. 

YBF exists to directly combat this kind of left wing issue politics. The military are a proud and vital part of our country, and at a time when the are overstretched and poorly treat by the Government, they need all the support they can get back home. Students’ Unions that are trying to pass these motions should be ashamed of themselves. 

YOU can help. If your university is trying to pass such motions, or if you know of campuses where this is going on, contact YBF immediately. Email Christian (christian@ybf.org.uk) and YBF can swing into action with its unique combination of resources, supporters and campaign experience. Don’t let them get away with it.

Can TB have a wristband please?

Exclusive: Regional Coordinators

The CF press release after the last meeting confirmed that Regional Coordinators would be in place by 1st December. No reference to how they were being selected or how to apply for the position was included, or subsequently explained. Except to a certain chosen few it seems.

Tory Bear got wind yesterday or rumours that James Morton had already been asked by Michael Rock to take up the appointed position. There will be no contest for the coordinators other than a check with CCHQ. Other candidates have been approached for positions around the country but at this time the South West region is the only one that can be confirmed. TB has ears everywhere so perhaps discussing his promotion in the pub wasn't the wisest idea...

TB's sources in the executive of Conservative Future adamantly state that they have not been consulted on the appointments, and as the next NME meeting is in January it seems they will not be able to veto any appointments put to them. As far as TB can tell the Chairman and Deputy Chairman and communications officer have drawn up the list and it will be put to the rest of the NME after the candidates have been selected and approached, making sure any opposition to the appointments from the NME would come too late.

The CF constitution clearly states it is an NME wide decision:

8.1 The NME shall in each Region appoint a CF Regional Coordinator responsible for:-

coordinating CF campaigning and political activities which cross Area boundaries;

assisting CF Area Chairmen in the organisation of activities which cross Area

boundaries

Stretching that pretty thin if it is indeed just a final nod the NME members will have.

As for the appointment of James Morton to the position, well TB was at school with him so knows him to no doubt be a good egg. Currently the Area Chairman of Devon and Cornwall it is a sensible decision for him to take over as RC in the interim. He caught up with James a couple of minutes ago but as he was on a tractor he couldn't really talk.

As for the rest of the country it seems Area Chairman have specifically not be consulted about who they would like to see appointed to their area and the decisions are coming very specifically from the top.

The RC's are due to be in place in 10 days... If you know anything about who it will be in your area do email in.

Sam sees the light...

All sorts of rumours flying out of Devon and Cornwall today but one watertight story is that Sam Farage, son of Nigel, the leader of UKIP has recently renewed his membership of the Conservative Party.

Should make for an interesting European election campaign next spring for the Farage family...

NUS Debate: Guest Post

Richard Holloway

says no to NUS:

The question of Conservative Future's involvement with the National Union of Students feels older than the bible story. In fact the tale of David and Goliath would be apt if the NUS could be toppled with a single stone. Alas it is a larger and altogether more resilient beast than the Philistine army was.

Every few years a half-hearted attempt is made to gain NUS delegates, or to put up a Conservative candidate for NUS president. This year it appears to be Owen Meredith who is pushing the age old 'don't let down the students' line. I loved your freshers campaign Owen, it was excellent, but on this, you're wrong. 

Your argument rests on the premise that those who advocate leaving the NUS to its own devises are somehow letting down students by doing so. We wouldn't walk away from the country you say, so why should we walk away from students? We wouldn't walk away from the country for one simple reason, it is worth saving.

Students on the other hand are a transient bunch. Sure they're worth saving, but what are students? Their priorities have changed from activism to getting a good degree and then a good job. Most are at University for three years, in that time there isn't a great deal of opportunity to cement large scale changes at their University. You get one year to find out what the hell is going on, another year to realise that you can do something about it, and the final year to try and do it. One year is not enough time to effect massive change. Speak to anybody who got involved in student bodies across the country and they will tell you where the real power in their Union lay, with the managers. They are there for the long term, seeing students come and go. They set the boundaries and the scope of what can and can't be done in your term. It's the reality of the situation.

The point of contesting an election is to gain power. Tell me (because I really don't know), what on earth does the NUS actually have real power over? (All they seem to do at the moment is 'campaign' for a series of minority groups, commission silly polls and hit their head against the wall of tuition fees).

Lets say for a moment that you had control of the NUS. What would you do? What good would it do the country? Or for that matter what good would it really do for students? The NUS is an irrelevance. For all the blood, sweat, toil and tears, what actual power would you be gaining? Can you control individual Uni's? No. Can you set policy? Yes, but what is the point if you have no ability to put it into action? It's worse than that though, remember that it's the Nation UNION of Students. It would be a bit like the Conservative Party trying to get more activists as members of UNITE, or the NUT. There are plenty of Conservatives in these organisations, teachers are advised to join for example, but there is no call to try and take them over. Why not? Because there is no point. There must be a place for the leftists to have their fun. Do read 

David Aaronovitch's column in the Times.

 In it he talks about how the BNP can never make itself respectable. However it is his concluding remarks that are relevant to this NUS debate.
Simon Smith, the disgruntled anti-Semite, decided that the BNP was “being managed as a state safety valve”, and some might argue that every society could do with a legitimate far-right group to channel the activities of those who hate foreigners. Some may ask, doesn't every good country need a Nazi party? Just so long as it has absolutely no influence and does absolutely nothing is my answer.”
Doesn't every country need a group of naive young people who believe that Marx was right? Or that Che Guevara is an appropriate pin-up for your wall, and Livingstone is a living god? Just so long as it has absolutely no influence and does absolutely nothing.

The NUS I think most would agree fills this roll valiantly. Let's imagine for one final time the idea of a Conservative controlled NUS. Where would all the young left wing nutcases go for their communal fix? Out on the campaign trail, under the 'respectable' guise of the Labour party. Many already do, why on earth would we want to encourage more to do so?

David should put away his stone, leave the Philistines to their own worthless existence, build a catapult and prepare for the far more important war with the Babylonians (Labour).

NUS debate: Guest Post

Benjamin Gray

offers another voice in the NUS debate...

I'm basing this argument on the premise that the new constitution for the NUS gets ratified.  If it doesn't then disaffiliation may well become necessary, and I will be proposing it in my union.  It is also comforting to know that I am a masochist; political involvement is not about personal comfort.

We should first dispense with the notion that the NUS is some EU clone.  It is not.  The NUS has virtually no ability to dictate the policy of individual unions, and acts instead as an umbrella organisation to represent their interests.  It  bears closer resemblance to the LGA than Brussels.  The idea that it is "bloated" is also a myth; in the past few years the organisation has undergone drastic efficiency drives and downsizing to balance its budget, to the point where they sold off their headquarters building.  It has a budget far smaller than some of the unions it represents.

Far from being a mere collection of unwashed, unshaven, oppositionalist placard-wavers keen on demonstrating about whatever it is trendy to be against this month, the NUS performs roles that are vital to many student unions.  It provides training and a forum for sabbatical officers to share ideas that many individual unions simply could not afford.  Through NUSSL and NUS Extra it helps provide services to and discounts to unions and their members.

When those on the Right are organised, we have successes.  It may surprise some to learn that the NUS has had two CF members on their executive in recent memory.  We don't know if we could get more on because we haven't tried.  When the Right are on top of their brief and in command of the facts, we are able to make valuable contributions to the debate.  The fact that our ideas are neither the empty rhetoric of the left, nor the stereotype expected of the right, gives us a distinct advantage in discussions.

Though the idea that a CF defeat in the NUS would affect our party's standing in a general election is absurd, there is the genuine possibility of the NUS becoming the focus of future opposition to a Conservative government on education policy.  The only way to reduce such knee-jerk automatic hostility is to have people inside the Union making the case for such policy.  Even if the NUS retains a left-wing slant, which it will for the forseeable future, better that their ideas encounter stiff opposition than the unanimous approval of an audience unaware of any alternative.

It has always been something of a bogeyman to demonise the NUS as the front group of a band of revolutionary Trotskyites.  Though disproportionately represented, they still remain in a minority.  That minority is shrinking year on year, as witnessed at the last annual conference, where they suffered a major rout from the NEC.  A vast swathe of delegates belong to no faction whatsoever, and are willing to vote on the merits of the argument.  We owe it to them, as well as the students we represent, to make that argument.

The idea that we should spend more time and effort organising and campaigning on campuses is indeed a laudable one, but it does not come at the exclusion of conservatives organising for and within the NUS.  Part of the reason the hard left are disproportionately represented is because on many campuses they run the strongest campaigns.  Were CF members to offer organised, sustained, issue-focused opposition we could reap similar rewards.  The divisive politics of the hard-left are off-putting for many students.  We are in an excellent position to offer a viable alternative.

Fundamentally, the idea of organised national representation for students is a good one.  We cannot simply keep out of the organisation that does that because we disagree with its current policies.  Conservatism, if it means anything, is about working within flawed systems to reform them, rather than seeking to overthrow them in a utopian fantasy or fit of pique.  A new rival to the NUS isn't going to come along.  Education policy is currently severely flawed; we have to remain in the NUS to explain why, and how we would improve it.  We have to remain in to make sure that left-wing dogma does not go unchallenged.  Above all, we must remain in because to leave would be to silence ourselves.

Over to the anti bunch...

'ello ello' ello'... again.

Now TB isn't one to jump to conclusions but he can't think of many reasons why the the Conservative Future consititution would have been removed from the Party website unless someone didn't want members reading it. Are some of these changes coming up perhaps a little...ummm... unconstitutional. 

Luckily for you lot, you can now find a copy of the constitution

here.