Where better an institution to take a group of budding politicians, than the centre of British democracy that are the Houses of Parliament? On February the 13th a dozen members of Bath Conservative Future made the trip to London accompanied by Bath’s next MP (well, we are optimistic) Fabian Richter, to be treated to a guided tour of the Commons and the Lords by former MP and chief whip of the Lords, Lord Cope of Berkeley.

Standing at the dispatch box where David Cameron regularly humiliates Gordon Brown at PMQs, and admiring the ostentatious chair that is host to the Prime Minister’s saviour, Mr Speaker, was a true privilege that shall stay in our memories for some time. Such a building so steeped in tradition and placarded with British military success on the walls and ceilings serves to stir up national pride in even the most liberal of Britons.

Following our guided tour, in typical Bath CF fashion, the society enjoyed a hearty meal and one or three of alcoholic beverages whilst discussing politics, sport, and how much one appreciates Bath after spending the day in the Capital. Slightly ironic was the pub we choose to dine at, the Red Lion in Westminster happened to be the location for the foundation of ‘New’ Labour.

A thoroughly enjoyable trip that was enjoyed by all was the consensus on the journey home, as we eagerly await visits from Liam Fox, and hopefully Boris Johnson and William Hague in the forthcoming few months.

Yesterday, on May 4th 2007 I met one of the few living people whom warrant my veneration, for today Boris Johnson attended a Conservative meeting in Bath.

Several of my peers and aquaintences were sceptical about whether his speech would be of any relevance whatsoever, and even after his appearance some were left with the presiding belief that he was a ‘bumbling idiot’, but to those of us who take Mr Johnson as seriously as his intellect deserves, we were not disappointed.

Whilst talking about more national issues than many expected, baring in mind the council elections were held only a day previously, Mr Johnson produced such fine statements (albeit paraphrased) as “Tony Blair is doing his farewell tour on an open top submarine” and when mentioning Bath Conservative PPC Fabian Ritcher, pronouncing himself as the “president of the Fabian Society”. When talking about the stupidity of regulation on booster seats, Boris claimed that people of his age did not come to any harm without such pointless regulation, accentuating his point that such trivial matters should be at the discretion of parents.

Although clearly in a hurry, Johnson was doubtlessly in fine form; talking to his loyal supporters seemed to flow from his heart as effortlessly as the Latin prose that he spouted to the audience. When shaking his hand I was able to splurt out in the utmost sycophancy: “It’s an honour to meet you sir”, only to hear the response “yes yes, an honour to meet you”.

And so Bath CF left, myself personally feeling slightly bemused but altogether overjoyed after an afternoon that we won’t forget in a long while.

And so, late last night, the results came in that Bath & North-East Somerset council remained in No Overall Control. Our friend, Brook Whelan was elected in Widcombe with a fantastic result against the Lib Dems, and Gavin Bishop doubled the Conservative vote in Twerton though was unfortunately not elected.

Closer to home, unfortunately the two Liberal Democrat students in the University ward of Bathwick took both seats off previously incumbent Conservative councillors, John Bailey and Sir Elgar Jenkins. However, this was more than made up elsewhere with the Conservative party taking 31 seats on the council, while the Lib Dems slipped to 26. More coming soon…

Firstly, apologies for the lack of updates recently. Those people writing for this website have been very busy lately with University work and local election campaigning.

Boris Johnson, the Conservative Shadow Higher Education secretary and Member of Parliament for Henley in Oxfordshire is coming to Bath on the 4th of May to make a speech. The event is taking place at St. John’s Hall on Pulteney Road. Tickets cost £10 each, but if you bring a valid student card then it is only £5. Refreshments will be provided.

Boris will, no doubt, take the opportunity to celebrate Conservative gains in the local elections, and the Scottish and Welsh assemblies. The speaking event should run from 5:30pm to 8pm.

Today, Francis Maude, Chairman of the Conservative party visited Bath to meet our new Conservative Parliamentary candidate, Fabian Richter, and members of Bath Conservative Future.

Chairman Maude met us, along with local Conservative councillors and party officials outside the historic Bath Abbey. After a number of photographs were taken by a photographer from the Bath Chronicle, Fabian and Francis left to discuss a Conservative future for Bath and how best to defeat the current Liberal Democrat Bath MP, Don Foster who has a 4638 majority.

Later in the day Fabian and Francis went canvassing in the Combe Down ward, where Mr Maude told reporters:

Our concerns are with getting good value so that the money the council spends yields the best results. It’s not a choice between good services and low taxes. You can deliver good services and low taxes by making sensible decisions and running the council in an effective and efficient way.

This statement has been backed up by this year’s Audit Commission annual assessment of the quality of services provided by local councils, that proves Conservative run councils provide better services than any other party and at less cost to residents.

Yesterday, David Cameron visited the University of Bath and gave a speech to the local party faithful at the Saltford Hall in Wansdyke. Only the previous night, members of the public assisted the local Conservative association in selecting Fabian Richter as the new Conservative candidate for Bath in an Open Primary; a decision which Mr Cameron took the chance to endorse.

David Cameron visited the University of Bath to discuss environmental and sustainability issues with local researchers and view some of the modern research and development facilities that had been constructed on site. He later gave a speech in the Wansdyke Room of the Saltford Hall in which he spoke out to previous Liberal Democrat voters to stand up to an authoritarian Gordon Brown and vote for a modern compassionate liberal Conservative party. A recording of his speech and the questions taken afterwards can be downloaded here (35mins – 8.2MB.)

Notably David Cameron is the only current leader of a major political party to visit Bath recently, taking the time to prove the Conservative party’s commitment to the people of Bath and the students at the University. Photographs from the day can be found here.

Tonight, local Conservatives approved the Open Primary selection of Fabian Richter to fight for Bath at the next General Election.

Fabian made a strong speech that probably went a long way to winning the support of the hall. What’s more, many probably found it incredibly rare, as Fabian put it in his own speech (to great amusement,) to find ‘a German with a sense of humour!’ Congratulations therefore must go to Fabian. We are sure that he will make an excellent candidate and we look forward to working with him to win Bath and prise the seat from the Liberal Democrats grip.

Also, our commiserations to Flick Drummond, Jessica Lee and Harry Morley who missed out on the seat. We wish them the best of luck in the future and we’re sure they will make excellent candidates for another constituency.

Current opinion polling would suggest that, at number 128 on the Conservatives’ projected target seat list, Fabian is in with a very good chance of becoming Bath’s next MP.

Yesterday evening, a few members of Bath Conservative Future attended the societies’ Annual General Meeting which was held in the Ale House in Bath. Gavin Bishop was voted in as Chairman again, with Florian Bay remaining as Secretary and Darien Jay being promoted to Treasurer and group Vice Chairman.

We were also joined by Fabian Richter; one of the four remaining prospective candidates hoping to become Conservative PPC for Bath. He spoke with us for a good few hours, outlining his views on various different issues ranging from local train services and traffic congestion through to improving methods of canvassing and gaining support for the party.

We would like to very much thank Fabian for kindly taking the time to come and speak to us. We wish him well tomorrow at the final selections.

Yesterday, some members of Bath Conservative Future attended the Bristol North West event ‘How To Be An MP’ organised by Nick Webb. The meeting included short but insightful speeches by Member of Parliament for the Forest of Dean, Mark Harper, and Conservative South West campaign director Carys Parry.

After both speakers had said their bit, the meeting was then opened up to questions from the floor. Topics covered included the slightly contentious issue of the sacking of Conservative MP Patrick Mercer from the frontbench by David Cameron, the renewal of Trident nuclear weapons and the upcoming local council elections.

Around ten or so members of Conservative Future from across the South West made it to the event – so the turnout was reasonable considering that unfortunately a few people apparently dropped out at the last moment. A few pictures of us at the event can be found in our Photographs area. There is also an interesting document compiled by the Conservative party on becoming an MP.

The next UK General election is predicted to be in 2009; probably in July to coincide with the European Parliamentary elections. Should the Conservative party wish to form a majority Government at the next election, then seats such as Bath must be won.

Very recently, the local Bath Conservative association has been engaged in selecting candidates to go forward to an open primary to be held at the end of March.

The final four candidates are:

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