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com> News Bulletin from Conor Burns MP #107

28 March 2013 17:29

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In this edition:

Issue 107 Thursday 28th March 2013

Conor Burns MPs Diary Website of the week: Bournemouth Natural Science Society Photo news: Town Centre Rangers Conor in Parliament: Conor questions Chancellor on job creation Photo news: Moordown St Johns School Parliament Conor in the papers: Three more weeks of roadworks hell for Charminster Road Photo news: Bournemouth University Student Union elections Conor in the papers: Leveson: Ed Miliband tells MPs to do their duty for victims of the press Photo news: St Columbas College visit Parliament Conor in the media: The real lesson of Eastleigh is that the Tory grassroots are dying. Here's how we should revive them. How to contact Conor Burns MP

Since the past edition, Conor has:

Spoken in the House of Commons to seek reassurance from the Chancellor of the Exchequer about job creation. Welcomed pupils from his old school - St Columbas College to Parliament for a tour. Patrolled Bournemouth town centre with the Town Centre Rangers. Held a help and advice surgery at Bournemouth Triangle. Met with church leaders from throughout the conurbation at the Life Centre in Winton. Attended the Celebrating Success awards in Bournemouth which celebrates achievements of children in care. Appeared on BBC 2s Sunday Politics to discuss the Eastleigh by-election and Police and Crime Commissioners, and was quoted on South Today. Was published by the Conservative Home website, writing about the Eastleigh by-election. Spoke at an assembly at Moordown St Johns School and met the school Parliament. Attended a celebration event in West Howe to mark the end of their Fair Share funding. Visited Bournemouth University to meet with those involved with the Safebus. Been quoted in The Guardian regarding press regulation. Welcomed the Home Secretary Theresa May to Bournemouth to speak at a Sixty-Six Club dinner.

Website of the week:

www.bnss.org.uk

The website of Bournemouth Natural Science Society The Bournemouth Natural Science Society is a registered charity seeking to promote the study, interest and enjoyment in all branches of the Natural Sciences and History. The organisation, which was been active in the town since 1903, hosts a number of events and speakers which are open to the public as well as members. Based in Christchurch Road, the Society collects artefacts, carries out research and puts on lectures and speeches on a variety of relevant subjects as well as holding thousands of books in its library. The Society has boasted a number of notable members during its existence including Alfred Russel Wallace, the co-author with Charles Darwin on the original Origin of Species paper.

Photo news:

Town Centre Rangers

Conor on patrol with the Town Centre Rangers in Bournemouth.

Conor pictured with leader of Bournemouth Council Cllr John Beesley meeting with the Town Centre Rangers at their headquarters in Bournemouth.

Conor in Parliament:

Conor questions Chancellor on job creation

Click on the image above to watch Conors question to the Chancellor. The full text of the exchange was as follows: Conor Burns (Bournemouth West, Conservative): Does the Chancellor agree that rather than sneering at private sector job creation, we should welcome the fact that 1 million new jobs have been created since the general election? Will he assure me, the House and the markets that, in framing the coalitions economic policy, he will continue to listenand indeed listen significantly more to those who run such businesses and who are taking on new employees, rather than to those on the Opposition Front Bench who landed us in this mess? George Osborne (Chancellor of the Exchequer, HM Treasury; Tatton, Conservative): I agree with my hon. Friend and we should listen to the demands of the business community. It wants a more competitive business tax regime and additional help with investment, which we are providing. It wants essential economic infrastructure that was not provided over the past 15 years, and we are providing that. It wants a lighter regulatory regime, and we are providing that for small businesses. My hon. Friend is right: businesses large and small are the engine of growth in our economy, and it is welcome that there have been 1 million private sector jobs since the election.

Photo news:

Moordown St Johns School Parliament

Conor with members of Moordown St Johns School Parliament and members of Bournemouth Universitys Geography Society who were contributing to a project at the school.

Conor in the papers:

Three more weeks of roadworks hell for Charminster Road

Melanie Vass, Bournemouth Echo Monday 18th March 2013 Gas replacement works causing lengthy delays in Bournemouth will remain in place for another three weeks. Temporary traffic lights at the junction of Charminster Road and Iddlesleigh Road have caused long tailbacks in both directions, particularly at peak times. Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns is one of those to have been caught up in the jams. He said: In the middle of the day on Tuesday, I was going for the train to London. A journey that normally takes less than 10 minutes took about 40. Those poor traders in Charminster say they had massive roadworks there last year. There doesnt seem to be anybody doing anything. People dont mind the disruption when you can see work being done. But Chloe Boyce, spokeswoman for Southern Gas Networks, appealed to motorists to be patient and said the temporary traffic lights were in a slightly different place to where engineers were working. She said the works were necessary to replace the existing metal gas mains with modern plastic pipe. For this project, we have a one-way closure in place which involves a diversion for motorists. The diversion route joins the main road at an acute angle, which was difficult to negotiate for traffic turning left. To allow the diversion route to work properly, we were asked to put in a set of temporary traffic lights at this spot by the local authority. These lights are located further down the road from the site of our work, which may explain why some people have said they cannot see any of our engineers working when they drive through the lights. We are on schedule with this project and have a target completion date of three weeks time. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience that our work may cause. Michael Williams, of Charm-inster dry cleaners, said: The roadworks are making it very difficult for people trying to pull out of Stewart Road, its a bit of a pain. People wont come here if they dont have to. Ali Onur, of Sade Bakery, said: It wouldnt be so bad if you could see people working but they are actually working down Alma Road. A few customers have told us they avoid Charminster because of the roadworks.

Photo news:

Bournemouth University Student Union elections

Conor visiting Bournemouth University to encourage students to vote in the elections to the Student Union.

Conor in the papers:

Leveson: Ed Miliband tells MPs to do their duty for victims of the press
Daniel Boffey, The Guardian Saturday 16th March 2013 Ed Miliband has called on MPs from all parties to stop living in fear of retribution and to do their political duty for the victims of media intrusion by establishing a press regulator enshrined in law on Monday. In an interview with the Observer, on the eve of a historic Commons debate and vote on press regulation, the Labour leader says that for too long politicians have been scared of acting against the powerful media magnates who have the capacity to destroy political careers and wreck governments. Miliband admits that he was personally worried about the consequences when he called for the resignation of Rebekah Brooks, the News International chief executive, nearly two years ago. His officials at the time were allegedly warned by one senior executive of the company, that having "made it personal about Rebekah, we are going to make it personal about you". But Miliband says that now is the moment to break with the past, when "politicians were fearful of speaking out because they thought: 'I'm going to get bad publicity, it will turn the press against me'." He says that he believes the country is now "24 hours away from putting in place a system that I believe will work", to ensure that the treatment meted out to the family of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, whose phone was hacked after she disappeared, and the parents of missing Madeleine McCann, can never be repeated. "I think it is an important moment because we have had decades of failing to ensure that we have a system of press complaints and redress which means that ordinary people aren't left at the whim of a sometimes abusive press. "Monday is the day that politics has got to do the duty by the victims and has got to stand up for the victims." The vote follows an extraordinary week in British politics, with a serious schism emerging in the government, and a new coalition formed, as Miliband describes it, between Labour and the Liberal Democrats in the name of press reform. The dramatic developments were triggered on Thursday by David Cameron's decision to call an end to cross-party talks on a new regulatory regime for the press, describing the differences between the three main parties on the issue as "too great". He subsequently proposed a royal charter, a formal document issued by the Queen, which Cameron claimed would create the world's toughest regulatory system, allowing the imposition of exemplary damages on newspapers which refuse to sign up. The prime minister, however, insisted that his model would not include politicians voting in the Commons to lock the royal charter in law, and challenged Labour and the Liberal Democrats to offer a different solution. Critics of a legislative lock argue that it would open the door to political interference in the press. The alternative royal charter, presented by Miliband and Nick Clegg, would create a regulator with greater independence from the industry; it would have more powers to investigate complaints; and it would be able to instruct on the prominence of apologies in newspapers while, crucially, the charter would be enshrined in legislation. The Labour and Liberal Democrat leaders both maintain that the law is needed to guarantee that the new regulator has teeth. Labour wants the prime minister to offer the Commons a straight decision between the two models on Monday. However, if the prime minister does not offer such a vote, Labour and the Liberal Democrats have added their name to amendments to the crime and courts bill for a vote in the Commons on Monday, which would place the key facets of the future regulator in law. If the House votes in favour of those amendments, Cameron has said he will accept that the will of parliament is a regulatory regime enshrined in legislation. On Saturday night it appeared that Labour with the Liberal Democrats would be able to build a cross-party majority to push through their regulatory regime. Miliband said: "This is quite an important coalition that has the victims at the heart of it and I think that is incredibly important because this is a test of all of us as politicians. Writing in the Observer, the actor Hugh Grant, a key figure in the press reform lobby group Hacked Off, adds: "Tomorrow will be a historic day for Britain's newspapers and the nature of their relationship with the public. "I believe that the prime minister is facing possible defeat tomorrow, not because Hacked Off is a mighty instrument of propaganda or a slick PR machine (it is neither) but because he is so clearly on the wrong side in this. "When he was forced to choose between honouring his promises to the victims of years of press abuses or staying cosy with the owners of Conservativesupporting newspapers, he chose the press barons." Christopher Jefferies, who successfully sued eight national newspapers over their coverage of his arrest during the investigation into the murder of Joanna Yeates, described Cameron's position as a "non-starter". Conor Burns, the Tory MP for Bournemouth West, who has been battling against parliament becoming involved in regulation of the press, said that he believed Cameron faced an "uphill battle" to swing support to his plans as around 20 of his colleagues will potentially rebel against the Tory whip. Miliband also appears to have brought around his rebels, including David Blunkett MP and Frank Field MP, who have both previously voiced their concerns over any type of press law. Blunkett, a former home secretary, said: "My observation at this moment, and subject to further consultation, is that we may just have an agreement."

Photo news:

St Columbas College visit Parliament

Conor pictured with 6th form students from his old school, St Columbas College, during their visit to Parliament.

Conor in the media:

The real lesson of Eastleigh is that the Tory grassroots are dying. Here's how we should revive them.
Conor Burns MP First published on the ConservativeHome website Sunday 3rd March 2013 I thought carefully before writing this article. About whether to bother. I write it secure in the knowledge that cloaked in the anonymity of the internet it will get comments asking what right I have to comment on Eastleigh given my track record there. One Hedge End resident in the constituency remembered me last weekend and gave me the most memorable doorstep experience of the last few weeks. He assured me that he had voted for me both times. Before saying, Well its worked out pretty well for you son youve got the seaside and Huhne getting a cell! So yes I have a track record in Eastleigh I fought the constituency twice. And I lost it twice. I contemplated a third (because the party asked me to) but for reasons I will explain I decided against. However with over six years as the candidate there and nine years as a local resident I did want to use my knowledge to help Maria Hutchings in her fight. Over the last few weeks I made fourteen visits to help in Eastleigh fortunately its not a long drive from Bournemouth (even without speeding). I came back as an activist. I delivered leaflets, canvassed and asked friends to join me. I had no input into the campaign beyond street campaigning. I make no comment positively or otherwise about the campaign. And I refute any blame being attached to our candidate. Maria Hutchings is a lady of authentic decency as anyone who knows her will attest. But knowing Eastleigh as I do and having seen our campaign up close (and, yes, accepting that I lost by more than 3000 votes in 2001 and by 568 against Chris Huhne in 2005) I would make some observations about what happened there and the implications and lessons for our party more generally. Firstly the LibDems are seriously dug in. People have noted that the LibDems control every seat within the Parliamentary constituency of Eastleigh on the borough Council. They do. They also have every County Council seat within the Parliamentary constituency. Less noted was their dominance on the Parish and Town Councils of Bishopstoke, Hamble, Hound, Hedge End, West End, Botley and Fair Oak. There are probably in excess of 130 Councillors at different levels within Eastleigh - working for the LibDems year in and year out in their areas. Secondly the LibDem local brand is very strong and the Conservative local brand is very weak. This doesnt mean that we cant win the seat in a general election as Michael Ashcrofts Friday poll showed. It does mean we will struggle to win against them on local issues. One piece of analysis after my 2005 defeat showed that if people in Eastleigh had voted in the general election in the same way as they did in the County Council elections (which were held in the same day and on close to co-terminus boundaries) Chris Huhnes majority over me would have been in the region of 7,500 not just 568. Our local brand is broken and it is directly related to our local strength on the ground. Thirdly the LibDem message is accepted as the genuine one not just because of local strength but because of frequency of repetition. During the by-election we seemed to think that we had found the silver bullet to discredit the LibDem candidate because we had proved he had voted for a development when his leaflets indicated he has voted against. I was asked to tweet late at night after a big meeting had finished and the outcome was a poster that showed the LibDem candidate faced both ways on development. Anywhere else this might have worked. Not in Eastleigh. For more than a decade-and-ahalf leaflets saying that the LibDems had Saved our Green Fields or Fighting Tory County Council Plans for Building on our Open Spaces have been popping through letter boxes every two months without fail. You cannot discredit a trusted regular message (however untrue it is) in three weeks. Despite seeing some of the Green Fields they were protecting in my time at Allbrook Hill and Dowds Farm now covered in houses and flats it made no difference. Our lack of on the ground credibility made our message mute. Fourthly and perhaps most difficult for me to stomach: the Borough Council in Eastleigh is pretty well run. It performs its core functions well and it keeps the Council tax down. Some of this is due to the success of Conservative-controlled Hampshire but without an organisation heralding that it doesnt really matter. Perhaps lastly to understand the context of Eastleigh we have no opposition in any recognisable form to speak of. Yes there are four Councillors who sit on Eastleigh Borough Council from outside the Eastleigh Parliamentary seat. The Leader of the Group was first elected to the Council in 1955 and had served continuously for almost 58 years. No one could ever quite remember when he became Group Leader. I leave it to others to wonder why when the LibDems have taken every other ward in the Borough including formally true-blue areas like Hamble, Burseldon and Hedge End. They seem very deliberately to leave the Conservative Group Leaders ward alone entirely. So knowing what I knew before the by-election and finding that almost no one raised Huhne as the reason for the by-election on the door step I was not very surprised at the outcome. And despite what is being written about the consequences and implications for the next election I stand by what I told the Prime Minister before polling day there are precisely none. Yet I cant help but feel there are huge implications for us as a party in the way we operate, campaign and support the Conservative family in our constituencies. I worry that there has been too much scorn about the role and value of our members and our Associations. There is a tendency from some (often newcomers to the party) to dismiss the role of those who stuff envelopes, attend coffee mornings, do telling on election day. Yet in places like Eastleigh they are our party. Its certainly true that elections in the modern world cannot be won on a purely constituency/ bottom up approach. But as the last election showed, surely elections cannot be won on purely on a national/CCHQ basis? I used the word family to describe the Conservative Party and its members deliberately. When I joined the party it felt like being part of a family. We campaigned together, we socialised together. Firm friendships were formed. Party conference was like a great extended family gathering. You met friends from all over the country who you often only saw at conference. We came together as Members of the Conservative Party deliverers, ward Chairman, MPs, YCs, University students, Association officers and just ordinary members but as equals who were there for one reason alone which was a shared belief in Britain and that Britains interests were best served by Conservative values in Government. Today I feel that too many are slightly embarrassed by our members and more comfortable with a conference of corporates and lobbyists. Im told they help us make a profit from conference. Perhaps they do. But I fancy that very few of them will stick leaflets through the doors on a cold November afternoon in Hedge End, West End, Botley or any of the other places in Eastleigh we need to win to get an MP there. I would like the real lesson of Eastleigh to be this it is almost impossible to win on the ground in areas where you have almost ceased to exist on the ground. And that we should put as much effort and thinking into how we revive our local base as we do into central driven campaigning. So here are a couple of ideas: We raise millions every year to spend on CCHQ. Lets devolve more of that money to the coal face in our target seats. Our agent infrastructure is close to extinction. Lets not just bring in people in the run up to an election and make them redundant afterwards. Why not bring back a proper agent career path and ensure shared professional coverage in areas we need to win? Remove the 25 minimum membership. I remember joining when Margaret Thatcher was Leader the fee box was left blank and the question posed, What price freedom? Give the conference back to those whose party it is our members.

On that last note I end on, to coin a phrase, a generous open offer to the Conservative Party. Our members loved coming to Bournemouth. We have a plentiful supply of relatively inexpensive and quality small hotels and B&Bs. Bring the annual conference back to Bournemouth: and its only a short drive for the new members we need to attract in Eastleigh to ensure the new MPs career is short-lived.

Three ways to contact Conor Burns MP:

By Phone: 020 7219 7021 By email: conor.burns.mp@parliament.uk By post: Conor Burns MP House of Commons London SW1A 0AA

www.conorburns.com

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www.conorburns.com
Promoted by Andrew Morgan on behalf of Conor Burns, both of 135 Hankinson Road, Bournemouth, BH9 1HR