Sydney 10th -13th January 2012

IYDU is a global alliance of centre right political youth organisations united by a common desire for greater freedom and less government. IYDU has four core values, democracy, respect for human-rights, free markets, and free trade.

IYDU will be holding its Annual Council Meeting in Sydney from Tuesday 10 January to Friday 13 January 2012 in Sydney. As members Conservative Future are invited to attend the event, and indeed all IYDU events around the world.

The IYDU Annual Council Meeting will be hosted by the Australian Young Liberals. The programme will start with a welcome reception on the evening of Tuesday 10 January and the events will continue on Wednesday 11th, Thursday 12th and conclude with the election of office bearers on Friday 12th.

In addition our hosts have arranged for an optional sightseeing visit to the Australian capital Canberra from Monday 9 and Tuesday 10 January before the start of the Council Meeting. The organisers will arrange bus tickets for Sydney-Canberra-Sydney journey as it is only a 3 hour journey each way so there is no need to book an additional plane ticket. Participants will return to Sydney in time for the welcome reception on Tuesday 10 January.

Additionally, the Young Liberals will hold their annual conference from the evening of Friday 13 January to Sunday 15 January in Sydney and have kindly invited IYDU Participants to observe this meeting. The formal dinner for the Young Liberals conference will take place on Saturday 14 January and discounted tickets will be made available for IYDU participants to purchase.

If you are interested in attending please do let me know and I will ensure you are kept abreast of the full details, and the details of other events coming up in 2012.

http://www.iydu.org/the-iydu-annual-council-meeting-will-be-held-in-sydney-australia-10-to-13-january/

By Nabil Najjar

The sun was shining on Sunday morning as England played India in the fourth and final Test match at the Oval in Kennington, and whilst the stands were filling up, Boris Backers were out in force to leaflet the crowds as they entered the stadium.

We had a really great turnout, with sixteen young activists making their way down to Kennington to help spread the word about Boris’ achievements – cutting crime, freezing council tax, improving public transport and delivering the Olympic Games on time and on budget.

The response from the crowds was very positive, with the majority of people firmly believing that Boris is taking London in the right direction. If you want to help make sure London stays in safe hands, sign up and help make it happen at backboris2012.com/volunteer/login.

By Matthew Riley

The Big Society is an absolutely fantastic idea that has the potential to bring together the best of Britain, to make us a world beater once more, to make us great again. But is it really real? That is the question not the answer, and the answer is a highly debated subject. Labour says no, Mr. Cameron says yes. The media fiercely debate it among themselves. Some claim the riots showed us that British society is only broken, others point out that factors such as the broom army undoubtedly prove that the Big Society is real, active and there for all to see! Whatever the case within the cities, in the peaceful midlands town of Tuxford there is evidence of the Big Society at work.

In early 2011 a member of staff at Tuxford Technological College worked alongside both other staff members and members of the Tuxford Town Council to create what is possibly a national first, and a shining example of the Big Society. To my knowledge and that of my peers Tuxford Junior Town Council is the first such organisation. Whilst similar to youth parliament among others in some regards it has a very different aim. Tuxfords people working with Tuxfords Resources to improve Tuxford. That’s community, that’s Big Society!

So how does it work? Is it just another group of people who excel at debating but fail to provide when it comes to action time? Well this is how it works, two members from the town council sit on every meeting (held monthly), then there is Miss Manning, the lady who worked gallantly to set this up for the good of the community and finally there is the Junior Town Council members. Firstly there is naturally the chairman, Mr. Andreas Georgiou, AKA Mr. Personality of the group, he has helped push through ideas, keep everything organised and made sure people show their commitment to their community. Then the other members of the group aged (12-17) rotate between positions to get the most out of it. Like a bucket however you only get as much out as you put in and that is defiantly the belief for these young social pioneers. They take turns being secretary, treasure and speaker among other things. They work hard to see an improvement made to their streets, a worthy cause by any length.

So what have they done? Well my friends I have made some points in the article and naturally I must therefore provide evidence, so hear it is. Gilbert Avenue Tuxford is receiving a brand new sports field. An idea that has been debated by the Town Council for years, however with the aid of the Junior Town Council it is finally a reality. These young men and women went out across their town and handed out self made surveys, what do you want on the field? When would you use it? Who would use it? Some of the many questions, that helped the town council finally get the budget together and make a difference on their own streets. They pushed the idea, they worked for it and with the guidance of the town council they did it!

This is indeed what the Big Society is about. People making a difference in this area, the people who helped rebuild London, Manchester, Birmingham and so on deserve a massive shout out undoubtedly. However so do these young men and women who pioneer the Big Society in rural Britain.

London CF Young Professionals broke the mould last Friday, 12th August, and headed to the Whisky Mist nightclub in Mayfair for an evening with Toby Young.

The journalist, commentator and author, addressed attendees on the subject of the West London Free School of which he is a co-founder. The school is the first free school in Britain to sign a Funding Agreement with the Secretary of State for Education, the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, and is seen as one of the principal examples of the Government’s new initiative. Despite suffering from the injuries of a cycle accident Toby soldiered on through and, accompanied by his wife, had a great evening meeting and taking questions from our guests. Our guests found it very interesting to hear about some of the obstacles facing free schools and the realities of implementation, as well as a few of Toby’s personal anecdotes.

The club absolutely thronged with young Conservative activists from all over the country until the early hours as our guest list passed the 150 mark. As the popularity of Young Professionals has grown immensely in London since the start of my term we have decided to recognise the group’s proven importance by endowing it with a “Deputy-Chairman Young Professionals”. Michael Bull, who is the current officer, is to fulfil this role. As I said during the evening the next hurdle for the Young Professionals, as the largest body of our membership, is to get more of them involved in our campaigning efforts to get Boris Johnson re-elected as Mayor of London.

To help campaign this weekend for Boris.

Our next Young Professionals event is with Iain Dale and friends at the Caledonian Club.

Sign-up to our mailing to stay up to date with our events: http://bit.ly/LDNCFsignup.

Calling all Conservative Future Branches, Areas and Regions. Have you got a good new story that you want to show off to the rest of Conservative Future?

Conservative Future is launching a new monthly Newsletter. Peter Smallwood Conservative Future executive member has been appointed the Editor and is looking for your stories.

Conservative Future wants to show off the good work you are doing. All stories will get some coverage. It will either been in our new Newsletter, on our soon to be launched new website or in our regional emails.

Stories can range from major events you are running to the success of the event you host. We would love to hear about the Campaigning you are doing and the elections you are helping to win. It would also be great to hear about all successes such as social action and university successes.

The deadline for the first newsletter is Friday 26th August.

This is a great chance to show off all the great work CF is doing. Please get you stories in thick and fast. I will do my very best to give everyone a wide range of coverage.

Email you stories to peter.smallwood@conservativefuture.com.

Over the past few months Conservative Future has been working extensively with our Conservative sister parties across Europe and the rest of the world. We have been building links with Parties to promote the ideals of Conservatism, small government and progressive social policies.

Recently we received a very kind note from our Swedish partners, MUF:

A few months has proceeded since the Swedish Delegation visited the Conservative Future in London. Even though some time has passed one can still remember the experience like it was yesterday.

To MUF, the youth wing of the Swedish Conservative Party called Moderaterna, the tour was the first time a conservative youth party in Sweden has gone abroad the Nordic area to explore another youth party’s work in Europe. In fact it is rather surprising this has not been done earlier according to the development of the negotiations in the European Union as well as the importance of it. Even though our views concerning the significance of EU might differ, it does not reduce the denotation of an open dialogue regarding how we better could negotiate, cooperate as well as exchange knowledge and ideas. Open and free negotiations one can think are equaled important to the society as an open and free economy, a key point to the growth of a country.

Therefore I want to thank you for your excellent arrangements and warm welcome of the Swedish Delegation, which I in conclusion hope is just a beginning of a long further cooperate, us wonderful countries between.

Great thanks to all of you.

Lisa Högkil
Vice President of MUF Södermalm

It is now time for CF branches to order student packs for the 2011 fresher’s season.

The Conservative Party is working hard to take Britain forward. More young people are in work now than when we took over from Labour. We’re reforming welfare to end the benefits culture once and for all. We’re cutting the deficit so that our economy can grow and businesses create more jobs. And we’re transforming our public services to make them fit for the 21st Century.

But Labour are determined to drag us backwards. They want to return to the bad old days of spiralling debt, out-of-control immigration, and a benefits system that punishes those who try to do the best for their family. That’s why they’re campaigning against our plans to make Britain stronger.

We can’t let them win. Every Conservative in the country needs to join together and fight for a fair, thriving Britain.

Conservative Future has a vital role to play and we must all use the freshers’ season to recruit as many new members, supporters and activists as possible.

You can order packs via the link below. Each pack contains pens, posters, balloons, bags, t-shirts and recruitment literature.

http://www.conservatives.com/freshers

Packs will be available free of charge to official CF branches that have sent in their membership data.

If you have any questions please contact me at ben.howlett@conservativefuture.com.

Let’s all work together to deliver the most successful fresher’s campaign to date, and to bring a new generation of young people into Conservative Future!

By Katy Turner

The Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series saw Boris campaigners out in full force to support athletes from across the globe.

Hyde Park, the site of the proposed 2012 Olympic Triathlon, hosted 4,500 triathletes and provided the perfect opportunity to share with London Boris’ fantastic record. Engaging with sporting events, especially in Olympic venues allows the Boris Team to remind Londoners about both the Mayor’s commitment to the games, and the impressive delivery of venues and facilities across the capitol, on time and under budget as well as his commitment to increase grassroots sports participation with funding of £15.5million.

Like the competitors, the intrepid Campaigners were not put off by the torrential downpours and carried on until reaching critical saturation levels in which leaflets simply couldn’t survive at which point a swift path was beaten to the safety of a public house.

Sign up to find out how you can volunteer for Boris 2012 campaigns across London http://www.backboris2012.com/volunteer.

The National Executive are looking for an enthusiastic campaign co-ordinator to support us with campaigning (including Back Boris 2012), building membership, young professionals, organising speakers, setting-up events and producing exciting communications.

This is your chance to get involved, have fun and improve Conservative Future!

Process

People interested in the role can apply (details on how to apply below). Regional Chairmen and the National Executive will all vote for the candidate they decide. The candidate with the highest number of votes will be elected. The voting process will be conducted by CCHQ. You may lobby those who are eligible to vote only and external campaigning is prohibited.

Application Process:

Please email a CV and and reasons you think you will be a strong applicant for the role to ben.howlett@conservativefuture.com by Friday 19th August.

With the recent growth in the number of CF branches in the Eastern part of England, Conservative Future is looking for an Area Chairman for Hertfordshire.

If you would like to get more activists out campaigning and holding social events then this is your chance to get involved.

To apply, please email ben.howlett@conservativefuture.com and augustine.chipungu@conservativefuture.com with a CV and reasons you think you will be a strong applicant for the role.

Please note you must be a CF member in Hertfordshire to stand. The deadline for applications is Monday 15th August.