Time for the Conservative Party to be Conservative by John Strafford

 

Watch the video of the speech on Youtube.   Transcript below.

Time for the Conservative Party to be Conservative - Full Speech by John Strafford

 

Speech Party Conference 4 Oct 2021   Liberty Zone, Manchester

By

John E. Strafford

Chairman, Campaign for Conservative Democracy

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a great honour and privilege to be sharing a platform with such distinguished guests.   I have an affinity to them all.   With the Bow Group my son Guy is a past Chairman.   Joy Morrissey is my Member of Parliament in Beaconsfield and a brilliant Member of Parliament she is.   With Miriam Cates the  MP for Penistone and Stockbridge the connection is a little bit tenuous so let me explain.

Penistone is quite close to Sheffield.   Like Miriam, I was born in Sheffield.     The Strafford family goes back to 1765 and earlier.   My mother’s maiden name was Waterfall.    The Waterfalls go back in Sheffield to the 18^th century.   In the 19^th Century the Waterfalls were a big family, so large that they had their own cricket team.   In the middle of the century some cricket teams started to play football in the winter to keep fit.   Bramall Lane, home of Sheffield United was built as a cricket ground.   It is now the oldest existing football ground in the world.

In 1857 three men got together to form Sheffield Football Club.   One of those men was John Charles Shaw who was born in Penistone and was educated at Penistone Grammar school.   John Charles Shaw served as President of Sheffield Football Club for 14 years.   It is the oldest existing football club in the world.   He was married to Annie Waterfall who was the niece of my great, great grandfather.   In 1860 he moved to Sandygate in Hallam and formed the Hallam football club which is the second oldest existing football club in the world and in 1860 there were three Waterfalls in the Hallam team including my great, great grandfather William Waterfall.

John Charles Shaw was an Area agent for the Conservative Party and in 1875 he was appointed the organising secretary of the Conservative Party for the whole of  England and Wales.   In this role he modernised the Conservative Party.

He revolutionised the way we campaign in a General Election.  He did so well that not one but two testimonial dinners were held for him and the Duke of Norfolk presented him with a silver cup, a silver platter and £1,200.   About £100,000 today.

So, a little lad from Penistone in Yorkshire brought football to the World, modernised the Conservative Party and revolutionised campaigning.

Miriam, Joy, Jonathan you can do the same for the Conservative Party and the country today.

It is time to bring the Conservative Party into the 21^st century.

1)    The Chairman of the Party, Deputy Chairman, Treasurer, Chairman of the Candidates Committee and Chairman of the Policy Forum should be elected by and accountable to Party members and present Annual reports to an Annual General Meeting to which all Party members are invited.

2)    The National Convention should be scrapped.

3)    Constituency Associations should have the right to determine who their Parliamentary Candidate is with minimum interference by CCHQ.

4)    Motions for debate should be allowed at the Party Conference.

5)    The Party Constitution should be capable of being changed at a General Meeting of the Party by  members of the Party on the basis of One Member One Vote.

That will modernise the Conservative Party.

But, what has happened to Freedom, Liberty, Democracy and Justice in this country?

In the last two years we have seen:

The internet  dominated by a small number of big tech companies who delete all information that they disagree with.

Schools and universities have ceased debate and enquiry.  People with contrary views have been barred from campuses.   Student newspapers have been censored.

Employees have been made to undergo psychological re-education.

People have been sacked from their jobs for saying there are two biological sexes.

Families have been kept from dying loved ones.   Daughters have been arrested for collecting their mothers from care homes

Vast numbers of children have been sent home from schools and denied a proper education because one class-mate has lost their sense of smell.

We have been told to have an anti-virus vaccine although the vaccine isn’t compulsory, yet those who have refused it have been sacked from their jobs.  We have been stopped from going to bars and stadiums.  

Our unassailable Leaders have ignored the rules they have set for others again and again, blissfully untroubled by cries of hypocrisy.

Global Leaders, bureaucrats, scientists, royalty and the super-rich have met in private to discuss how we all must live.   Blinded by hubris they believe that they alone can bring about a utopian future.   The language they use is made up of meaningless phrases like “sustainable development”, “Build back better”, “levelling up”

Few will question what all this means and those that do will be insulted, ridiculed and pushed to the margins of society so that they are effectively silenced.

It is time for us to return to Conservative values.   The Conservative Party must

• Maintain itself as a democratic national organisation supported by a broad section of the population from all walks of life

• Uphold the rule of law and order and the concept of equality of all before the law.

• Create favourable conditions for the creation of wealth and thereby sustain high levels of employment and living standards

• Promote free enterprise, maximise choice and minimise regulation.

• Provide or enable the provision of high-quality services in fields where the State must provide them.

• Control public expenditure within a balanced budget and with low levels of taxation.

•  Ensure the integrity and security of the realm.

   Ensure a fair democracy based on the principle of One Person, One Vote.

I am in the sunset of my life, so I look to a new generation to uphold these values.   I look to Miriam, Joy and Jonathan to hold the torch of the Conservative Party, the torch of liberty and freedom.   In the words of Ronald Reagan I will be a foot soldier in your army and do everything I can to assist you in your endeavours.   Let us go forward with hope.   Let us all  now create a Party and a country we can be proud of.