The View from Medway » Conservative Future

Medway Conservative Future Branch launched

Alan W Collins — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:43:04 +0000

Tracey Crouch, the Member of Parliament for Chatham and Aylesford, attended the official launch of the Medway Conservative Future Branch in Rochester today (21 July)

Thirteen young Conservative Party supporters braved the dismal weather to attend the launch in the surroundings of historic Medway, in the shadow of Rochester’s Cathedral and Castle.

Greeting Ms Crouch was the Chairman of the new branch, Joe Armitage, who thanked everyone for their attendance and said that he looked forward to campaigning and socialising with everyone over the coming months.

For more information, please visit www.medwayconservativefuture.co.uk.

Area Chairman election results

Alan W Collins — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:23:21 +0000

I have just received an email from Michael Rock, the National CF Chairman, with the result of the Kent Area Chairman election at the first NME meeting yesterday.

Suffice to say I was not elected as Chairman. Matthew Doy was the successful candidate, and I send my congratulations to him.

It was recommended, however, that I be on the Kent Executive, but we shall have to wait and see what Mr Doy chooses to do now.

Kent CF Area Chairman

Alan W Collins — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:15:29 +0000

Many people may be aware that, following applications for Area Chairmen a couple of months ago, the Kent CF Area Chairman position remained vacant.

Some people will have been aware that I have expressed concerns about this already, and, following the re-opening of applications last week, submitted my application for the position.

I have no idea how many people will have applied for this position, nor how long it will take to find out the next step. However, rest assured, I will let you know as soon as I do.

The not-so-secret ballot

Alan W Collins — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:10:33 +0000

Everybody knows that we here in the good old United Kingdom enjoy the freedoms of a great democracy, one of which is the freedom to vote for who we want to.

Now, one of the great things about this is that there is no-one who will ever be able to tell who we voted for; the ballot is secret, and is for most elections: general, local, european etc.

It seems that Electoral Reform Services has yet to receive this message. I returned from Riley’s on Monday to find my Conservative Future elections ballot papers to find the declaration (requiring both a sugnature and a printed name) on the same bit of paper! And guess what, “unsigned ballot papers will not be counted”.

CF has said that “the CF elections are still a secret ballot despite having a signed declaration of identity on the ballot. This is normal practice by ERS to ensure that only eligible members vote. When ballots are returned, ERS will check names against the electoral roll and any duplication before removing the identities.”

But hang on, on the incorrect instructions on the letter from CF, there are supposed to be two envelopes: one for the ballot papers, which goes in the other one along with the declaration. Why couldn’t they have actually done it that way and avoid a lot of confusion in the instructions and apprehension for revealing your identity on a secret ballot?