Leafleting in St Andrews

Tonight saw some a quickly arranged campaign night in the St Andrews ward. The leaflet concerned the Havering Conservative administration's excellent record on delivering steady council tax increases, whilst improving services. This leaflet was the first to go out under the new Hornchurch & Upminster Conservatives banner.

The evening was rounded off in the usual way, with a few drinks in the Chequers pub in Hornchurch and watching the England match.

Monday Poll - Question 9

It is the 2ooth anniversary of the abolition of the Slave Trade by the British Parliament. Tony Blair has expressed Britain's "deep sorrow and regret" for its role in the slave trade. However, some campaigners say that this falls short of the formal apology that is necessary for the rifts to be healed. On the other hand, some say that it isn't for the current government to apologise for events that took place so long ago, when different moral standards prevailed.

Should the British Government officially apologise for the Slave Trade?
	Yes
	No
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Romford Town Quiz Night

The Romford Town ward held a quiz night yesterday and Havering CF entered a team. Although we didn’t win, despite our very Gareth Thompson acting as chief scorer, we did well to achieve a respectable third place. This was particular well earned in light of the particularly tricky questions (set by local councillors Wendy and Fred Thompson), which contained rounds on subjects as diverse as ‘Sixties Music’ and ‘Herbs’.

Havering CF Chairman Sarah Mackintosh acted as quizmaster for the evening and her numerous mispronunciations of the questions provided lots of material for heckles and banter directed towards her from the HCF table.

Our next social event is a Bowlarama on Saturday 31st March from 7.00pm at the Number Ten Bowling Alley in the Brewery, Romford. To attend this event or to start receiving our regular social event emails contact us at events@haveringconservativefuture.com

Angela Watkinson MP selected for Hornchurch & Upminster

This morning saw the selection of the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the new Hornchurch and Upminster constituency. The seat was contested by Angela Watkinson MP (Upminster) and James Brokenshire MP (Hornchurch), both excellent Members of Parliament who contribute a great deal to their local communities and the Conservative Party in Parliament.

There was a vote of over 100 members at the selection meeting which saw each candidate speak for 10 minutes and then answer questions for a further 15 minutes. I am delighted to be able to announce that Angela won the vote and has been duly named as the PPC for the Hornchurch and Upminster Constituency.

The contest was robust and dignified and I would like to extend my personal congratualtions to Angela and my best wishes to James who I have no doubt will find another seat in the very near future.

Monday Poll - Question 8

A question from the world of sport for you this week. In light of the revelations in yesterday's Sunday papers about the allegded drunken activities of members of the England Cricket Squad in the Caribbean, what do you think should happen to Andrew Flintoff.

Do you feel that he has disgraced himself and his country or do you feel that he should simply be judged by what he does on the field of play.

Should Andrew Flintoff be sent home from the Cricket World Cup
	Yes
	No
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Spring Conference - Nottingham Part II

Today's highlight was obviously David Cameron's speech which concentrated on the future of the NHS. He staked the Tory's claim to be the party of the NHS, pledging to end the targets he says are destroying the service. He said government targets had turned the NHS into a "vast inhuman machine" and that only the Tories could restore staff morale and improve patient care. This view was supported by a number of speeches from doctors and nurses about how bureaucracy and reorganisation have hamstrung the NHS.

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However, having celebrated St Patrick's Day in style last night (where David 'WMD' Grantham lived up to his considerable reputation), it was necessary for us to catch up on some sleep this afternoon. But we are looking forward to this evening's night out, when GK and Gareth (Both Nottigham University Graduates) are taking us to some of their old haunts for a few end of conference drinks and a well deserved curry.

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GK's Quote of the Day: David Grantham on the Blackpool conference later this year - "My old Headmaster lives nearby and I'm sure he'll love to see me again".

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Havering CF will be attending this year's annual conference in Blackpool (29th September to 3rd October). We will be looking at accommodation shortly, so if you are interested in attending then please email GK Adams on events@haveringconservativefuture.com.

Spring Conference - Nottingham Part I

Having had to two superb visits to the annual conference in Blackpool and Bournemouth, expectations were high for Havering CF's first visit to the Spring Conference in Nottingham. And we were not disappointed, with excellent speeches from shadow cabinet titans, George Osborne and William Hague. There was also video clips of David Cameron on the doctors march and David Davis in New York looking at the zero tolerance crime initiative - "Broken Windows".

The day ended with a very good session concerning local campaigning and social action ideas from other areas of the country lead by Eric Pickles MP. Havering CF will be bringing back these suggestions and will try to implement those that are applicable to our area.

GK's Quote of the Day: GT to SM whilst parking the car - "Is it in yet?" (you probably had to be there - So make sure you are in Blackpool later this year!)

Busy month

We may not have updated the blog too much this month, but in the background we have been very busy.

We have some campaigning days coming up both in Havering and just over the border in the new Rainham & Dagenham Consitituency over the next month. If you are able to help out on any Saturday mornings, please contact us and let us know your availability and we will let you know where we are on that Saturday.

A group of us are off tonight to Nottingham for the Spring Conference. We will update you with regards to the events of the weekend when we return early next week.

There is a quiz night next Saturday (24th) being hosted by Romford Town Ward. It seems spaces are very limited now, so please contact me if you wish to attend at chairman@haveringconservativefuture.com.

The boundary changes in Havering that prompted the Hornchurch Constituency to disappear and be merged into three others means that Rainham and Dagenham needs to find itself a new conservative candidate. After a meeting I attended last night, it seems the timetable for this has now been set and further details will be provided as soon as I have confirmation of them.

With regards to the other two Consitituencies that we cover, Andrew Rosindell MP has already been reselected by the Romford Conservative Association in preparation for the next General Election and the new Hornchurch & Upminster Constituency has it's selection meeting on 24 March.

Finally, for those of you in Rainham and Dagenham, please check out James Brokenshire MP's campaign re: Stop Rainham Jail (http://www.stoprainhamjail.com/). There was a public meeting on Friday 9 March which "was extremely positive and helped to demonstrate the strength of local opposition to any prison plan for Rainham." According to the website, the next event is an awareness and petition signing session outside of the Tesco Extra in Rainham on Saturday 17 March commencing at 10am. If you live in this area, and haven't yet signed the petition, please go and sign up either at Tesco's or online!

Roger Evans Reselected

Last night Councillor Roger Evans AM was reselected as the Conservative Candidate for the London Assembly seat of Havering and Rebridge. Roger made a success appeal to a meeting of representatives from each of the Conservative Associations in the seat held and the offices of the Ilford North Conservatives in Gants Hill.

Roger was first elected to the London Assembly in 2000 and has done excellent job in holding Mayor Livingstone to account, especially on issues concerning transport and the enviroment. In his role as one of our vice presidents, Roger has been a strong supporter of Havering Conservative Future (he has agreed to chair our mayoral candidates hustings on 20th April). We wish him good luck and look forward to supporting him on the campaign trail.

Monday Poll - Question 7

We learnt that the settled view of the House of Commons on Lords reform is, not to put too fine a point on it, unsettled. MPs voted for an 80 per cent elected Upper House, 20 per cent appointed. A few minutes later, they voted for a 100 per cent elected House, nil appointed. It's not the debacle of the last vote, in 2003, when all the options for a hybrid chamber were defeated. But it hardly sets a clear direction either.

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For this reason we are asking for your opinion of what should happen to the House of Lords. Do you think that we should continue with a fully appointed second house which allows for people of great experience (such as nobel prize winners), who would not otherwise consider running for public office, to contribute to the political life of the nation.

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However you may believe that the only way for the upper chamber to gain legitimacy is through the ballot box and therefore favour a fully elected house. But you could feel that we already have enough elected politicians and not wish to create just another clone of the House of Commons.

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Or do you feel that there is a compromise between these two positions and favour a hybrid system with some elected and some appointed members, therefore having democratic legitimacy as well as accomadating non-political experts. However you may fear that this could lead to a two different classes of Peer within the chamber. Have your say here:

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How do you think the House of Lords should be composed?
	All Appointed
	Part Appointed/Part Elected
	All Elected
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Monday Poll - Question 6

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No technical hitches this week!

More and more children in the UK are becoming obese - it's been described as a modern epidemic. About 20 per cent of children are now overweight and 2.5 per cent are severely overweight or obese. Research suggests that the main problem is a continual reduction in the amount of exercise children take. Many overweight children have overweight parents - it's often a matter of family lifestyles.

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Should obese children be taken into care?
	Yes
	No
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Boris Johnson Dinner

Last night Angela Watkinson's Parliamentary Dining Club hosted a dinner at the Palms hotel, Harold Wood. The room was packed to the rafters with over 150 people in attendance (of which a large number were CF members). The great interest was no doubt inspired by the guest speaker, Boris Johnson MP.

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An excellent meal was followed by Mr Johnson's after dinner speech and to his credit he managed to compete with the sounds from the disco in the adjacent room. As people have come to expect, he was highly entertaining speaker, even if the oratory was not as well-polished as some other politicians. The main thread of his speech was the need for less government interference in day to day lives of ordinary people.

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However, the other highlight of the evening (from a HCF point of view) was when GK delivered grace before the meal and to the amused of the guests showed Mr Johnson that he was not the only conservative who gets muddled up when public speaking!