IN TOUCH with FORMER CONSERVATIVE

[Pages:4]IN TOUCH WITH FORMER CONSERVATIVE AGENTS

Issue 34

Patron The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major, KG, CH

September 2014

FEEDBACK

JEAN LUCAS emails: Thank you very much for sending me Issue 33 - a very important one, which I would hate to have missed. In all this talk of the poor old Party, I think I must be one of, or the only Agent left living who has seen it all, spending the whole of my working life in the Party. I joined in December 1948 as a secretary in the Organisation Dept. at the age of 21 and left it in 1993, at the age of 76, having wound down to be a part-time Agent again in Tooting. I suppose my peaks in all this time were winning Wandsworth in 1978 (uninterruptedly Conservative until now - 36 years), pioneering the joining of constituencies together into forming groups to employ an Agent (Lambeth and Wandsworth), being one of the 3 Agents to pioneer the use of computers in constituency offices, (well in advance of Central Office), and being a Chairman of the National Society after 4 years editing the Agents' Journal (in the 70's). It occurred to me some while after I moved here that I had wasted the whole of my working life in the service of an unappreciative Party, and then I compiled the little list above, and started writing novels instead! But what is the Party doing to have thrown all this valuable network away? I know there are colleagues who have spent their later career in Central Office, which I refused, preferring life in London to being exiled to Wales! But I would be interested to know if there is anyone else who has been always an Agent and nothing else?

GEOFFREY HARPER reports that a nearby struggling "Campaign Manager" lamented to the Party Chairman that there was no training available to help him. "Oh isn't there?" was the reply.

SUSAN PARKIN was so incensed at the last reshuffle that she wrote to her own MP as follows: "As you probably realise because of my former career, I still see and socialise with a considerable number of Conservatives - indeed within a 4 week period at our home we have entertained to lunch, or at their homes, 33 Conservatives - ( 9 of these were the "movers and shakers" of Selly Oak Birmingham, some now living in Solihull). Every single one of the 33 is appalled by the governance of this country (most were either former constituency chairmen or women though one was a branch chairman) and have financed the party - one by many hundreds of thousands of pounds. Not one thought David Cameron was doing a good job nor approved of the majority of his policies - especially gay marriage, overseas aid immigration, planning, political correctness, and the diminution of the Christian ethos of this country . All were appalled to see Gove go and thought he was an exceptional minister (one of very few worth their salt) To use the coalition as an excuse or reason for this is NOT GOOD ENOUGH - stand up and be counted and if necessary break the coalition and have an election. To allow yourselves to be led by the nose deserves defeat at the next election The standard letter you sent from Grant Shapps did absolutely nothing to counter our very grave concerns nor give us any hope for the future The above gives neither me, nor many of those to whom I refer, any satisfaction; indeed after the years of working all hours God sends for the Conservative Party - it nearly breaks our hearts".

SHELAGH AND GEOFFREY ELLIS (ex S. Herts & Chipping Barnet) send greetings from Alicante, whither they went in 2001. The local brew, a very tolerable red, comes out, providing you take your own bottle, at 1.05 euros a litre. They have chickens, turkeys at Christmas, Geoffrey grows amazing tomatoes and almost every other vegetable, while Shelagh makes marmalade, chutneys and jams from figs, apricots

and other fruits.

PAUL GRIBBLE, who has lived in France for some time now, reports that he is retiring as editor of Schofield's having held the job for 15 years. He deserves our acclamation for sticking at it so long ? not a task which many of us could or would manage. Travel, and more visitors, now beckon.

DEATHS With regret we record the passing of Valerie Binney, John Devine, Lilian Hodgkinson, Josie Purcell and Peter Wray.

THAT'S MY BOY! Reading a charming obituary to Sir William Benyon MP, I found reference to his first election in 1970 when he defeated Buckingham's sitting Labour MP Robert Maxwell. "A swaggering Cap'n Bob, confident of victory, had

greeted him at the count with a smug "hard luck" ? only to be trounced hours later. As a triumphant Benyon and his Agent, JOE FRENCH, emerged from the polling station into the town square, an ardent Maxwell supporter, roused to fury by the sudden reversal of fortune, swung a vicious punch at Benyon. French, a war hero and the epitome of a loyal agent, moved across to intercept the punch ? which broke his jaw."

PETER SMITH on

Selling the Family Silver

One of the unintended(?!) consequences of the Party reforms after 1997 and the fragmentation of the Regions and the old Areas into smaller units, not necessarily based near their former centres, was the loss of records going back over decades. The dispersal of minute books, records and actual physical items took place over a short period, with staff losses, changes of roles and general upheaval. A number of Regions deposited their paper records with county archivists, where they existed, and some certainly went to the Bodleian Conservative Party Archive in Oxford. I only hope that somebody there knows which counties hold the records! However, what the Party did not want to know about, and certainly did not want to hold at any central point, were the Cups, Trophies and other 'silverware' owned by the old Areas, usually held in the Area Office safe or occasionally displayed in cabinets in Clubs or even on the COA's office bookshelf. These old National Union artefacts varied in age, value and purpose ? to record success in debating; organisational ability; triumphs at Golf or even the selection of a `Miss Young Conservative' (or Junior Unionist!). Cups, Rose Bowls, Shields, Plaques and Salvers, all recorded a constituency Association's excellence amongst its peers. Names and dates going back to before the Great War, followed by the growth of the Women's Sections and post-war explosion of the Young Conservatives, were testaments to the strength of our voluntary organisations (because of course there were Agents!). The question is: "Where are they now?" I understand a few are kept and displayed in the Carlton Club. Some may be in constituency offices, Clubs and the like. But I suspect that a great many are in the hands of private individuals, former National Union Officers, Area Officers and MPs who were prevailed on to look after them as the `Dissolution' swept through the land. Which of course leaves the problem of who knows their current whereabouts? There is no central record, nor even any knowledge of where to start looking, in many parts of the country. As the Great Returning Officer in the Sky announces his results, fewer and fewer of us remember the details of who, and where, and when. Will we see them for sale on Ebay (as Primrose League medals already are) to decorate warehouse loft conversions or trendy apartments? And just before we get too censorial with others, do we know where all our own National Society regalia is now- all those National and Branch Chains of Office?

There is another problem- if we could find these links with the past (pun intended), what would we do with them? Where could they all be brought together; stored or catalogued, or displayed? In short, is there a benefactor who could do for our Party's history in the country what Lord Ashcroft has done for the Victoria Cross?

Old age is having a choice of two temptations and choosing the one you home earlier.

Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.

that will get

A HUGE THANK YOU TO CHRIS POOLE

Chris has been President of the Benevolent Association for 16 years, but has now decided that it is time to hand over the baton. There can be few political retirements which are met with such unanimous regret from all who have served with him on the committee over the years. The nice thing about the CABA committee is that there are no egos or ambitions to be satisfied ? we have all been there and done that ? simply a desire to help colleagues who are in need. Chris has chaired those meetings with skill, compassion, humour and tenacity. It is not always easy to steer a straight path between personal needs and the strictures of the Charity Commission, to whom we are ultimately answerable, but he has achieved it and deserves the gratitude of all of us, not least our ever-changing list of recipients.

He retires as from the AGM on October 21st, see below.

AGM's of the Superannuation Fund and CABA, followed by lunch on TUESDAY OCTOBER 21st 2014, at the Victory Services Club, Seymour

Street, London W2 2HF Guest speaker The Rt. Hon. Sir Nicholas

Soames MP.

Members should receive direct notification, but any

queries to CABA Secretary Sally Smith BA, 37 Winston Close, Nether

Heyford, Northampton NN7 3JX

APRES LE DELUGE

Now that we have all had our inevitable collective beef (Feedback rarely produces anything but!) ? let's have a constructive look forward to 2015.

Election year! Where once those words kick-started our adrenalin and a frisson of anticipation and sometimes apprehension, they now herald a weary resignation. We may have little say or input into the outcome, but let's do what we can from our armchairs.

We want to know what YOU think about how things are shaping up in your own area. Lord Ashcroft's professional polls are one thing; our experienced eyes and ears are quite another. Do please feed back your gut feelings ? especially on the subject of UKIP. Has Farage shot his bolt, or is his star still in the ascendant? Is this varying from urban to rural area? If you are in a rural area, is the UKIP stance on hunting making a difference? Are the Countryside Alliance people who helped Tory candidates in their droves last time deserting them?

What about those of you in Kent ? in the front line of immigration problems and now facing Farage himself as the probable S. Thanet candidate, presumably conducting the campaign from there?

The economy is on the up. Is this reflected in people's opinions in your area? How about the

Boris factor??

Is David Cameron's pledge to hold a referendum on Europe having any effect

on people at large? Despite Ed Miliband's unpopularity, the Labour vote seems to be holding up in

their target seats ? how is it looking for you?

And so on and on.

We are not saying anyone will take any notice of us ? they haven't for years ? but there are still wise heads around who will be profoundly interested. Not least the Association of Conservative Peers who, of course, have many ex Party Chairmen and retired MP's amongst them, all of whom knew what it was to work with our profession; and David Simpson is their secretary.

We will probably produce one more Newsletter before the election in May, so input by February will be helpful.

BOOKWORM

As I write, Speaker Bercow is embroiled in yet another row ? this time about the appointment of a new Clerk to the House of Commons. So it is an opportune moment to mention the retiring Clerk's own two Miscellanies "Order Order" and "Who Goes Home?" Both books, by Sir Robert Rogers ? an interesting and cultured man who read Old Norse, Medieval Welsh and Anglo Saxon at University ? would make good Christmas presents for politicos.

One reason for this is that Rogers has a good eye for the Parliamentary detail which tells the reader something about wider society rather than simply being of interest to political enthusiasts. For example, he includes the Fifty New Churches Act of 1711 - an Act instigated by a severe shortage of churches in London with only one in three of the population provided for. That casts a rather different light on the levels of religious observance in the early 18th century than is usually assumed.

REMINDER that if you received this issue by mail, you requested to do so previously. Should

your circumstances have changed, and you wish to receive it by email in future, you should register

with Peter Smith on pdsmith@dunross.demon.co.uk

OR you can catch up with it on the

antiquatedagents. website where Tricia Gurnett posts it.

Feedback gratefully received by Editor Lindsay Brooke, Puddle House, Chicksgrove, Tisbury, Wilts SP3 6NA

Tel. 01722 716912

email lindsay4brooke@

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