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Imagine a rock concert at the NEC, the massing loyal hoards, intense anticipation, and the promise of your favourite act topping the bill at the end of the night. Combine that with all the colour of tribal rivalry of the Villa Blues derby, add a little politics, and you have a US National Convention.

Here in St Paul Minnesota I’m attending the Republican National Convention as an official observer from the Conservative Party. In 2010 I may have the honour to chair the Conservative Party conference when we come back to Birmingham, so I’m keen to see how different an American Convention is from anything we know in the UK.

All of the pundits here, and most of the media predict an overwhelming victory in November for Senator Barack Obama. The most eloquent candidate since John Kennedy, Obama has become a pioneer in new campaign techniques, mastering modern media and the internet. And most of the media and all of the pundits hold it as a self evident truth that the Republican candidate, Senator John McCain, will be beaten into a cocked hat.

America has the most unpopular president in history, a challenged economy, and a war that has claimed thousands of American lives far from home. So the incumbent Party should lose. Shouldn’t it?

Well, from what I see here, I’m not so sure. John McCain is no George W Bush. This convention is working clearly to set McCain apart from the current President. They showed decisiveness over Hurricane Gustav by cancelling the first day and focusing attention on the Gulf coast states. And they are straining every sinew to portray McCain as a man who has put his country first for the whole of his life. Last night on the floor of the convention, speaker after speaker spoke of John McCain’s strength of service. Former Senator Fred Thomson gave the finest valediction I ever heard portraying McCain as a maverick, and yet an all American hero. Perhaps the loudest roar of the night came when we were told how when McCain was being tortured by the North Vietnamese during his five years as a Prisoner of War, even when his arms were broken he remained defiant refusing to give the names of fellow air force officers when asked, and giving, instead, the names of the offensive line of the Green Bay Packers football team.

So McCain is an American hero. But that won’t be enough to win the presidential election. He has to get the votes of tens of thousands of undecided voters in the battleground states. The places to watch come November are, for the Republicans, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Win there, and McCain will be in the White House. For Obama, the focus will be on Virginia and North Carolina. If the Democrats win those it will be game over.

And then there is the choice of vice-presidential candidate. Last week Barack Obama had made the extraordinary decision to keep Hilary Clinton off the ticket, selecting in her place the experienced but spiky Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. Here in St Paul die hard Republicans are wearing badges deriding “Obama bin Biden”. It personal all of a sudden.

Its personal because McCain has selected a woman who even last week almost no one had heard of. Sarah Palin is Governor of Alaska, where she has been effective reducing waste and taking a salary cut as a good example of government reform. Suddenly, after Palin was announced as the v-p candidate, we’re told that her 17 year old daughter is pregnant, and that she will marry the 18 year old father of her child. Is the Republican Party up in arms? Heck no. They are celebrating the selection of a “hockey Mom”, and moose burger eating former beauty queen who has none of the beltway baggage of Washington DC, and who reflects the issues that so many American families now face. Sure she’ll be a heartbeat away from the presidency, but Republican delegates here get incensed if you suggest that their own wives and mothers, or women from across America could not break through the glass ceiling and serve as President of the United States.

Republican delegates here get incensed if you suggest that their own wives and mothers, or women from across America could not break through the glass ceiling and serve as President of the United States.

On Wednesday night Sarah Palin gave one of the freshest, most genuine speeches any Convention has ever heard. She lit up the 10,000 delegates with a speech of grace, passion and hometown American charm. She left me, and everyone else in the hall and across America in no doubt that McCain has been a maverick in picking someone few had heard of, but proven in picking a truly exceptional woman, mother, chief executive and friend. Some challenge that she will find it tough to look after her family and carry out the office of vice-president. The former Mayor of New York dealt with that one clearly stating that no one would dare say that to a man, so why is it relevant for a woman? And how right he is.

Much of the Convention is spent with a series of short presentations from congressmen and others extolling the service of John McCain. Unlike a British party conference, there is little political debate. But there is some, and arguably the Republicans are setting the agenda for the reform they say is so badly needed. Top of that agenda is energy security. Americans suddenly recognize that fuel prices are rising, and with the polls still close, the cost of winter heating fuel being bought in the Autumn could be e defining factor in the election. The polls here now tell us that the main issues in this election are energy, the economy, the war, and immigration, in that order. TV ads playing on every station show business and mostly Republican candidates arguing for the development of new energy technology. Just across the border in Canada lie some of the largest gas reserves in the world, and with the US determined to become self sufficient in oil and not dependent on fuel from the Middle East, new sources of supply are high in the public mind.

Rather uncomfortably, last night, many of the speakers made comments on faith and politics, and on the coming legal challenge to the 35 year old laws on abortion. There remains a faction in the Republican Party that puts God first, then Nation, and then family. But what younger Republicans are trying to focus on here is an assurance that the Party has changed already, and the McCain represents a new face of real America. A young US congressman said to me this morning that two years ago in the disastrous midterm elections that “the entire Republican leadership in Congress was fired due to corruption, leadership, and incompetence.” He commended the British Conservatives telling me that the Republicans have to regroup and rebrand just as we have done, and seize a new agenda that defines the changing Nation.

So tonight its back to the Convention amongst more than ten thousand Delegates, Alternate Delegates, and guests, held in what is normally the home of the Minnesota Wild ice hockey team. But the big event is tomorrow. The newly anointed son, John McCain will speak, the ticker tape will fly, red-neck Texans in big cowboy hats will holler and wave, balloons will fall, and chants of “U S A, U S A” will ring out around the hall. And the election campaign will be underway. Will McCain win? Its closer than you may think. Based one what I see here, whilst some are resigned to their fate, the Republicans are determined to do everything to retain the White House, and keep setting the Agenda.

This article appeared in The Birmingham Post on 5th September 2008

The problem with football in England is that the game has been ruined by too much money and too little responsibility.

So I'm really proud that my team, Aston Villa, has announced today that it will not promote a commercial sponsor on its shirts next season. Rather, in what I hope will be a trendsetting move, Villa will promote local children's hospice Acorns on its shirts.

How wonderfully typical of a club that prides itself in social responsibility and good business. Professional football doesn't need more money; Premiership players are already paid almost offensive salaries. But it does have a great part to play in rebuilding our broken society. Villa took a great leap today in helping to do just that.

http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~1322713,00.html

I'm in occasional contact with my friend Rob who lives in Harare. Along with the whole world I was hoping this month to celebrate the freedom of Zimbabwe from tyrrany. Rob had promised that when its safe to visit we'll fly up to Mana and drink a cold beer as the sun sets on the Zambezi, and talk about the time they almost lost the country, but found the courage and determination to win it back.

Sadly I don't think that is anytime soon. Rob has today sent me an article that I'm pleased to publish here. And he's recommended an excellent activist's website, so do take a look at http://www.sokwanele.com/

Harare, April 19 2008

 

There has been a huge amount of interest by the international community, diplomatic and media, and by the general public, in the Zimbabwe crisis in the past three weeks. Much of the reporting has been very good. Some has been extremely poor. All of us, pretty much without exception, were caught up in the euphoria in early April when it became clear that the MDC had swept the board, and Mugabe was "finished".

 

Well, that was a mistake, wasn't it?

 

It might be a good idea to start with the reasons why Mugabe is so unlikely to step down quietly.

 

There are around 500 people for whose benefit Zimbabwe is currently run. Perhaps it's a thousand. Certainly it is less than a tenth of a percent of the population. They are senior members of the ruling party, of the armed forces and security establishment, and a select few around those key members. Imagine, if you like, that Zimbabwe is a village, with a chief; a Dare, or council of elders; and a few hundred villagers. There are then several thousand goats, and chickens, and head of cattle, and guinea fowl. And there are a few million stalks of maize, and soya, and Marula trees. The livestock and the crops are more or less disposable. The village can't survive if there are none at all, but no individual goat or stalk of maize is

necessary to the well-being of the village. On the other hand, all the five hundred inhabitants know each other, are connected to each other, and although sometimes there are falling outs, they all look after one another when necessary.

 

This is not just an Orwellian metaphor. It is quite clear that the elite, the five hundred, or a thousand, have no more sense of responsibility to the people than a farmer does to his chicken, or his corn. Of course, he'll look after it up to a point; but he'll have no compunction about cutting its throat or taking a scythe to the field if that's what's needed.

 

These five hundred, or a thousand, surround Mugabe. They are his entire constituency. They ensure that he hears only two messages from his people: "The country will be colonised again if you don't keep fighting" and "Everything is fine and everybody loves you."  

The elite have had their snouts in the trough for so long that they have failed to  notice the way the masses have turned against them.

 

For ten years ZANU PF loyalists have convinced themselves that the MDC and the democratic opposition was a creation of the British, the Americans, and the white farmers. Any black member of the MDC is a sell-out and an Uncle Tom. Zanu have rigged the elections over the past few years, but they've never had to rig  extensively, and they were pretty sure that this time they'd fixed the problem for good.

 

Therefore they were absolutely flabbergasted when, three weeks ago today, the people of Zimbabwe rose up and threw them out.

 

For three or four days they reeled. Emissaries were sent to Tsvangarai's people, sounding out options for a government of national unity. Bob's wife and kids left the country – probably accompanied by the families of most of the top leadership.  

But now they are beating and brutalising and burning huts across the country to try to "encourage" people not to vote for the opposition should there be a run-off.

 

The MDC is utterly hamstrung. Never particularly good at showing courageous leadership when it is most needed, they have cowered and squabbled and acted like rabbits caught in the headlights of a juggernaut. 

 

Had the MDC brought a hundred thousand people out onto the streets at the beginning of April, we would probably have a handful of martyrs, and a new government.

 

But they had neither the courage, the wit, or the organisational skill to move when there was a chance. Now they cannot get more than three people together without the police and army descending on them.

 

I fear that the moment has passed.

 

This is not a game of football. I think we should all remind ourselves this, everyday. There is a rapidly narrowing window of opportunity. This month. Perhaps next.

 

After that, the country will be stolen from us for good.

America is getting a wake up call.

The ranting of Barack Obama's former pastor may have been objectionable, but America needed to hear what he said.

Few of us will like Jeremiah Wright's tone, but surely we know from the reaction of so many around the world that much of what he said echoes loudly. For strong supporters of America, like me, it is painful and unpleasant. But from Vietnam to Palestine, and from Nicaragua to Iraq, America's public attitude to so much of the rest of the world has brought condemnation and in too many, hatred.

Pastor Wright's shouting "God damn America" may have drawn the sound bite generation on You Tube, and Barack Obama may have fallen back in the polls as a result. But millions across the world do damn America every day, and in this election America needs to understand why. It has, come November, a unique opportunity to repair that hurt, and elect to the office of president someone who has none of the baggage of the post-cold war years and who can rebuild trust in America as the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Barack Obama may be a little thin on policy. But he is big on leadership, and he can renew a connection with and appreciation of America the world over. Last week in his amazing "A more Perfect Union" speech, Senator Obama explained that only in America could he the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas be a serious candidate for president. He is the epitome of the American Dream, a dream that has been all too bruised over the past ten years.

Serving as president is not only about rhetorical greatness, though Obama has than in spades. Equally policy development is not what being president is about either. Being president is more inspiration than perspiration. It is about building a team, uniting the nation, and representing the largest economy and most powerful military and culturally influential nation on a global stage. And particularly now, it is about letting the whole world come to love America a little more and hate it a little less.

I heard John McCain speak at the Conservative Party conference in Bournemouth in October 2006. Undeniably he is a hero, and come November he may be president, and if he wins he will deserve the full support of us all. But Senator McCain's 40 minute speech to the Conservative Party was read from behind a lectern with full autocue. There was nothing personal in it. No warmth or endearment. No love. It was a speech that we could have heard from Gerald Ford 30 years ago. Formal, well meaning, determined, but dull and uninspiring.

America has to change the way it is perceived by the rest of the world it. It needs a new great communicator who can inherit the mantle of that greatest of presidents, Ronald Reagan, and not only unite one nation across the United States, but also unite the world in a more peaceful, respectful, and eloquent democracy. To my mind Barack Obama is the only candidate who can deliver that, even more so following his amazing speech on race last week, and for that reason he has my support.

I'm going to say something that may be unpopular. But, hey that's politics. I've watched the protest rally of former Gurkha Rifles in London this week with a mixture of sadness and regret. Sadness that some undoubted heroes feel that they have been unjustly treated. But regret that the whole issue has been hijacked by the media.

To understand what I am going to say next you need to understand a little of the history of the Gurkha Rifles. These proud men have, for generations, been recruited into the Indian Army and into the British Army with an understanding, agreed in 1947, that at the end of their service they would be returned to Nepal with a pension that would allow them to live in dignity in their domicile of origin.

The problem now is two fold: globalisation and the handover of Hong Kong.

Sadly, and few in the media reflect this, too many young Nepalese see a chance to serve four years in the Gurkha Rifles as a passport to the West. Of course there are examples of real heroes who have served the British Crown with distinction and dedication and now face the ignominy of deportation. But ever since the hand over of Hong Kong to China and the withdrawal of the Gurkha's from Hong Kong to Kent, they have been a regiment without a specific role.

Much as we must respect them, and having spoken to one retired Gurkha Officer this week I know many of the regiment will agree with me, the retention of the Gurkha Rifles today is a anachronism of faded Empire. The Gurkha's should have been disbanded with full military honours in 1997. And despite the fact that the British Army struggles to recruit enough fit men to serve from our own shores, doing so by taking on what are effectively enlisted mercenaries from six thousand miles away in this age of globalisation and migration has to come to an end.

The history of the Gurkha Rifles has been magnificent. But as we have done with so many grand old regiments, now is the time to call time, and allow them to march off into the Himalayan sunset, with full military honours, and a Nepalese pension.

Before last Autumn few people had heard of Res Non Dom tax status. Essentially what it means is that people legitimately working in the UK who were born overseas and whose principal place of residence for most of their lives is beyond these shores, ensure that their non-UK earnings are not taxed in the UK as well as in their overseas home. If you worked abroad you would hope to be treated so equitably too.

It never used to be much of an issue. But as Britain's economy has grown, and as London has established itself as the principal global financial centre at the expense of New York, more and more foreign nationals have made their homes here. They generate exceptional wealth, employ thousands of people, contribute to our society, but just don't pay tax on their personal earnings that come from beyond these shores. Some premiership football players also qualify as Res Non Dom. Its a bigger population than you might imagine.

But the rules can be bent a little so that Res Non Dom individuals have their UK earning paid into an off shore bank account meaning that they are not taxed in the UK at all. They can even bring interest from those bank accounts back into the UK to pay mortgage interest on UK owned property. There's something slightly unethical about that, but the benefits of having these entrepreneurial wealth generators in the UK vastly outweighs the disadvantages.

When in October 2006 I spoke at the Conservative Party Conference calling for the abolition of Inheritance Tax I hadn't costed the implication. But I knew it was popular and right. So when the Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, pledged at the Party Conference in 2007 to raise the IHT threshold so that it is a tax paid only by millionaires, I was delighted. And Osborne's stroke of genius was that he had costed it out. He dealt with the ethical issue of resident but not domiciled persons living and working in the UK, and largely generating very substantial earning here, electing to register for RND status with a flat charge of £25,000. As a result the UK tax authorities would not seek to tax their non-UK earnings. RND individuals would be contributing what would be, to them, a small charge that would mean that they are contributing to the civil society in which they live. The additional revenue raised would fund the small tax give-away of inreasing the IHT threshold. As with all of Osborne's principles on tax, this was simple, flatter and fair.

So when Gordon Brown's puppet, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling sought to ape Osborne's policy in his pre-Budget Report, many laughed but suggested that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But plagiarism is usually found out, and often leads to the student being relegated to the bottom of the class.

Darling's imitation was nothing short of incompetence. Like all Labour's tax changes over the past 11 years it was neither simple nor fair. Darling used this tax change to complicate and obfuscate. He rushed the policy in, despite and contrary to a long tax policy review that had been underway for five years. And he consulted with no one in the City who would actually understand. So, no wonder the maverick government minister Lord Digby Jones warns now that these proposals may lead to RND individuals in the UK swiftly selling their assets and moving to Geneva. Darling did not do his homework, he has sought to undermine the attractiveness of London to global investors, and has made himself, yet again, seem unfit for purpose.

Writing in today's Sunday Times Michael Spencer, the chief exec of ICAP and Treasurer of the Conservative Party, and perhaps the most highly respected individual of his generation in the world of Financial Services, writes supporting the sense of George Osborne's proposals last year. Michael asserts how Labour's RND proposal is not a pale imitation of the Conservative's plans. It is a tax raid, dangerous for London's reputation, and proves how out of touch with City opinion this government has become. Well said Michael.

Read his article here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article3341747.ece

The Football Association announced this week that it is considering taking bids from major global cities for English Premiership football matches to be held overseas.

There is something deeply unpleasant about this. Most of us have a deep affinity for a football team; I've been an Aston Villa supporter all my life, as were my father and grandfather. Villa Park is just two miles from where for more than a hundred years our factory was situated in Hockley, Birmingham. I go to a couple of matches each year, and have done ever since the days that we used to be able to stand and sway with the crowd in the Holte End.

And that's the point. Football is about community. Its about spirit, and passion, and fitness, and loyalty.

Yet here we have the FA suggesting taking new big matches to foreign soil just to raise more money. There's something rotten in the state of football. Premiership players, many of whom have no other talent, and who all too often are very fragile characters, are paid twice as much in one week than most of the loyal fans who pay up to £600 per year to see them. The money in football is in danger of ruining the game, destroying the English national team, and creating yet more tribal rivalry that simply is not conducive to a cohesive society.

If it were more socially responsible, what the FA should do is to put a cap on players wages; £50,000 per week (sometimes far more) for booting a bloated pig's bladder around a patch of grass is simply offensive. The FA should require that more of the profits of Premiership football are ploughed back into the game at its grass roots, so that more boys and girls across Britain get a chance to be fit and not quite so fat.

As for Villa v United in LA? It would be more likely an Ealing comedy than a Hollywood blockbuster, despite Tom Hanks's endorsement of my team. What a turn off.

Tonight the Conservative Party held the National Excellence Awards. This is the one occasion during the year when the Party Leader is able to thank in a nationally recognised way all those hard working volunteers who give their time to the service of their Party and the Nation.

The brainchild of Party vice-chairman Don Porter, and organised by my fellow vice-president Emma Pidding, this was a chance for us all the say thank you, something that we so rarely do in society at all, let alone in politics.

Amongst those being recognised were Exeter University Conservative Future who increased their membership from 70 to 370 this year. We also recognised campaigners and communicators, social action project leaders, and the Conservative Women's Organisation which, under the redoubtable leadership of Fiona Hodgson, has transformed itself and is an inspirational example of campaigning and leadership for the voluntary Party.

But the highlight of the evening was the Lifetime Achievement Awards. New this year, these celebrated the previously unrecognised: hard working loyal Party members who have never been elected to office, but have given their time, commitment, and energy over, in some cases, sixty years. To all of them, thank you. You're all a shining example of how wonderful Conservatives can be.

Politics is a pretty unpleasant business.

The British media and political establishment have been beating themselves up about supposed corruption in finances surrounding politics for years. Fifteen years ago Neil Hamilton, never quite the sharpest tool in the box and perhaps a fool, was made to resign for failing to declare £667. It was a grubby episode, and was perhaps the start of the demise of the great British public trusting their elected politicians as "Honourable members".

Now Derek Conway, a tough north-easterner by origin, has seen his political career crash to the ground in one of the fastest tail-spins in British political history. His arrogance and rank stupidity for "employing" his contemptible son as a "researcher" when no work was being done and paying him from the public purse is inexcusable. It further undermines trust in politics and makes achieving any substantial political change extraordinarily difficult.

Fund raising and employment in politics must not only be "transparent" - the phrase of the moment. But it must be honest. There is nothing wrong with an MP employing his wife as a secretary or PA. MP's work unconventional hours and are based in at least two locations. It puts considerable strain on families from whom so much is expected.

In the financial services industry, where I work, the principle behind all financial actions is "maximum disclosure". In politics this is how it has to be too. Any money raised and spent, any gift given or received, any staff employed, everything needs to be clearly expressed and open to public scrutiny.

But don't lets beat ourselves up too badly. The major British political parties spend about £20m each year. The General Election campaign costs about £50m. And, yes, it sounds a lot. But in America the whole election process in 2008 will cost nearly $5bn. Now that is obscene. It means that the only people who can get elected in the world's greatest democracy are millionaires and the friends of millionaires.

In January 2008 Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama raised $57m. Funds come from big business backers, from tycoons on Wall Street, and from those with a political point to prove. It leaves a very unpleasant taste in the mouth.

So before we get too critical of our own elected representatives, the vast majority of whom work selflessly on our behalf, cast your eyes across the seas and see how much worse it is almost everywhere else.

Michael Gove is absolutely right to draw attention to the misleading spin weaved by Gordon Brown on language teaching. The Prime Minister has arrived in Beijing calling for Mandarin to be taught in all British schools. Yet last year only two British university students graduated in Mandarin Chinese. So how is he going to deliver on that one? Shei shei ni, Gordon.

Yet Britain does have an extraordinary language ability which gives our economy a profound advantage over the rest of western Europe. With more than 5 million people living in the UK whose families have settled here over the past sixty years, Britain has a rich cultural background with strong links with almost every country in the world.

The real competitive advantage that Britain has over France and Germany is that in many Indian and Pakistani homes in British cities, Urdu, Hindi, Gujerati, and other dialects are spoken as well as, for business and education, English. This give Britain a profound head start in trade with the world's fastest growing eceonomies. It not just spin Gordon, its reality. Rather than contrive something at great cost that will be difficult to deliver, we should celebrate skills that are already here, and make sure that its potential delivers the competitive advantage that Britain already has into economic success. 

The US presidential election starts in earnest today. Its the world's most complex and testing democratic process, and almost uniquely this year a sitting president or vice-president will not be a candidate. Which leaves the election wide open. My undergraduate degree was in American Studies, and I focused particularly on the presidential election process. I find this fascinating.

I had expected to back Rudy Guiliani. America's mayor was so impressive after 9/11 and won the respect of the whole world. I almost expected to favour John McCain, but his speech to the Conservative Party Conference in 2006 left me cold. Surely America could not face the derison of the whole world if it elected in Mike Huckabee a president who seriously believes in Creationism? In the face of an electoral process that, in total, will cost more than $4 billion an independent president who would not be dependent on financial patronage would be attractive too. So I may yet back Mayor Michael Bloomberg, if he runs.

But what does Britain need in a US president? 

America is more distrusted, indeed more loathed around the world than ever. Over the next four or even eight years it needs a president who can rebuild its leadership and tarnished image. It needs a president who is different from anything we have seen before. And it needs a president of conviction who understands that it still is the economy, stupid.

Does the world need another President Clinton?

I'm not sure. Perhaps what the world needs is a conciliator, a president of principle, and someone who the world that has grown to hate America can now learn to love.

Perhaps it is time for Barack Obama.

What a contrast between a hero and a coward.

This morning on the BBC's Andrew Marr show the splendid Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, cut up his dog collar in protest at Robert Mugabe's destruction of the identity of the people and civil society in Zimbabwe. Sentamu, a former Bishop of Birmingham, was born in Uganda. His principalled stand contrasts strongly with the abject cowardice of the British government which could this week have stood up for freedom in Zimbabwe. But Gordon Brown bottled it yet again in a show of total neglect.

Brown should have gone to the EU/Africa summit in Lisbon and called for the arrest of Mugabe on charges of fraud, tyrrany, and attempted genocide. Britain has a deep responsibility to stand up for the rights and the identity of all people in Zimbabwe, a once proud Nation that should be the bread basket of Africa. And yet this unprincipalled government did not have the courage or the self belief to do the right thing.

Shame on them. And hurrah for Dr Sentamu.

This morning I visited HMP Acklington in Northumberland as part of the annual British-American Project conference. I'd never been to a prison before, and was somewhat concerned by how I would react on being inside a Category C prison, and how it would feel to meet men who are imprisoned there.

We were warned before we went to remember that we were going inside inside these inmates' home, and we were warned not to ask what they had done to be there. So, when we sat down with five prisoners little did any of us expect that they would tell us very clearly why they were there.

"I'm serving life for murder" said Robert. "And I deserve to be here for what I did to my partner". I was shocked, moved, and found myself sympathising warmly with this troubled young man. He went on, "And let me tell you what I think. I'm sure prison works. It has made me think about other people and not just about me". 

Amongst the group that we met was a rapist, a wife abuser, a drug dealer, and a sex offender. The Law says that these are hardened criminals. And yet, and totally contrary to how I possibly expected to react, I felt a deep appreciation of the willingness of these men to share their stories with us, for their admission of what they had done, and I was moved by their hope for how their lives can be better and they might earn their freedom. 

Harpul is a Sikh from Ealing. For 10 years he sexually abused his wife and is now on a sex offenders course at Acklington. Does prison work? Harpul thinks so because it is causing him to think deeply about himself and who he has been and who he might yet be. His greatest concern is how his Punjabi-speaking mother and his family feel for what he has done. He has become a caring man and a penitent soul. 

We had a tour around their cells. One of the Americans in our group thought the cells small. In comparison with my spartan cubicle at school in Malvern twenty years ago it was relative luxury. It had the prisoner's own curtain, photographs, a PlayStation and a television. But it also had bars across the windows. And unlike an English Public School there is no way out. There is no family, no love, and a poster on a wall outside of a condom packet recommending: "before you rock, roll". 

I left Acklington deeply grateful to the prisoners, staff, and Governor Mick Lees for their welcome and hospitality. Does prison work? These inmates told us so. I just wish fewer had to find out.

During the afternoon we heard a presentation from Burl Cain, governor of the Louisiana State Penitentiary. He described how his vast prison rehabilitates offenders through participation in a wide range of activities including gardens and a rodeo. But, having met a convicted murderer this morning, to then hear from a US prison governor who had held a petrified man's hand as a lethal injection was given troubled me considerably. Warden Cain told us that as he administered the death penalty he thought of the prisoner's victims. I just wondered that in one day I had met two men who had taken a human being's life. But only one of them was deeply troubled by what he had done.

This government has an appalling track record on pensions. Clearly it does not understand how removing tax credits on dividends undermined the pensions of tens of thousands of people.

And now it is at it again.

The PPF Levy is designed to protect pensioners of Defined Benefit Schemes for companies that have weak balance sheets. But the reality is that it is another tax that puts yet more pressure on businesses that need stability and not financial surprise.

I'm a Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. We are one of the victims of the PPF Levy because of our much prized Defined Benefits Pension Scheme.

Last year we paid £9,363 as our PPF Levy charge. On Thursday last week, completely out of the blue, the CBSO received an invoice for £76,608 which is a rise of 718%. If we were a failing business, the pensioneers would benefit from this protection. But we are a charity with more than 50% of our income coming from national and local government grants through the Arts Council and Birmingham City Council. And, over the past two years since I became Trustee for Finance, we have devised a three year business plan that will deliver a surplus in each of the next three years, and remove our deficit by 2010.

The PPF Levy puts that in jeopardy. Had we known about the magnitude of this increase based on our credit rating following the 2006 accounts we could have addressed the issue. Our financial position is now relatively strong. Yet we are penalised.

Its throwing good money away. It buys little benefit for a pension scheme that is almost fully funded. And it is grossly unfair.

I'm rarely angry. But I am now.

There are some occasions when I feel proud to be British. Today was one as I attended Westminster Abbey for the Thanksgiving Service for the life of Bernard Weatherill, the 154th Speaker of the House of Commons.

The address was given by David Hunt, Lord Hunt of Wirral, who spoke movingly of Jack Weatherill as his mentor and friend. David said with conviction that Speaker Weatherill was "one of the great parliamentarians of our time", a One Nation Tory with a liberal heart who spoke fluent Urdu having served with the Bengal Lancers in the War. Weatherill's elder son Bernard spoke of his father's innate sense of fairness and of fun. Oh how Britain cries out now for politicians with a sense of duty and responsibility yet who understand how to have simple fun.

The most moving moment was, perhaps, Speaker Weatherill's younger son Bruce's reading of a letter that the family had received from the Dalai Lama stating how the people of Tibet had lost a great advocate. You could hear Westminster Abbey almost gasp at the timeliness of that perspective for the whole of south east Asia.

I had the great privilege of meeting Jack Weatherill on a number of occasions. Showing his sense of fun at our old school golf society dinner which he hosted in the House of Lords some years ago, Weatherill directed those of us needing the bathroom to "turn right our of this door and when you reach a door on the left marked "pee-ers" that where peer's guests can go.

The most memorable occasion was in 1985 when Speaker and Mrs Weatherill received our school 6th form politics class for sherry in Speaker's House. We were all a little overwhelmed to be in the Houses of Parliament at all. But joining us on that occasion with the Speaker was former Prime Minister Jim Callaghan and former US president Gerald Ford. The warmth of welcome extended to all of us, and the encouragement that all of these global statesmen extended to us, a group of ten seventeen year olds, was extraordinary and wonderful.

We closed the service with a lusty singing of "I Vow to Thee My Country", and what appropriate words they were. Throughout his life Speaker Weatherill served this country well, and stood for values that endure here always. British values of firmness, conviction, honesty and fairness. Today Britain was proud of one her finest sons. A good man. The Speaker.

So the sporting world is consoling itself at not only England’s loss at rugby and football over the last week, but also Lewis Hamilton’s loss of the Formula 1 World Championship. There’s no doubt that Hamilton has a prodigious talent. And he’s a great example of dedication and a fabulous role model for modern British society.

But, in a world of diminishing resources and spiralling CO2 emissions, celebrating a group of playboy multi-millionaires ploughing round a circuit that leads nowhere is surely a relic of a different age. If F1 is to remain relevant, surely the question is not the temperature at which fuel is injected into highly tuned race cars, but rather if it can reinvent itself to be an example of how technology can be more appropriate for the age in which we live. Its time for F1 to produce super cars that do not burn fossil fuels or pollute at all, but rather develop a technology that adds something new to socially responsible technical innovation.

When they do that I’ll cheer Lewis Hamilton too. But until then I’m utterly disaffected from what just seems a pointless wasteful noise and ozone polluting anachronism.

The Birmingham Suit Amnesty yesterday was a massive success.

It was such a simple concept. A few young professionals through the Thrive! CSR programme wondered what the major barriers were for young people from challenging backgrounds in applying for their first job, and particularly a job in the professions.

They thought being able to wear a suit to an interview or first day at work was critical.

And so the Suit Amnesty was born. Through the Birmingham Post and our own contacts we let professionals across the city know that we would collect suits on 12th October for donation to a range of charities and social enterprises including St Basils and WAITS. In a show of enormous civic pride and generosity, Kate Bartram of Mailwash offered to dry clean every suit that we received.

And so yesterday came. And we were almost overwhelmed. Suits came to the ICC by car, van and by hand. By mid afternoon we had over 700 suits, almost equally divided between men and women, and some of them were of the highest possible quality.

But the best moment of the day was when some boys from St Basils came in to select a suit that they could wear. Initially a bit diffident in their hoodies and trainers, just to see these guys standing tall in a nearly new suit that fitted them well was a real joy. That was what this programme was about. It will give them, and so many like them, pride, ambition, and self-belief. And perhaps the confidence to apply for and hold down their first job.

A massive thank you to everyone who took part in the Birmingham Suit Amnesty, but particularly to Graham Nicoll and Fidelis Hynam without whom it simply couldn't have happened.

http://birminghamsuitamnesty.com/

So the government, clinging on to power by its fingertips, has aped Conservative ideas on tax. Some say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I say that plagiarism is scandalous ineptitude.

Its right that the Inheritance Tax threshold has been increased to £600,000, and that goes some way to the abolition that I called for at the Conservative Party Conference in 2006. But this year's Conservative plans for an IHT level of £1m were far more simple and fair than Alistair Darling's announcement today that he has even backdated in an amazing play at populism.

Simple and fair is a tax that people are content to pay. Gordon Brown has had ten years to make simple reforms to Inheritance Tax and he bottled it each and every time. So why rush it through in a panicked pre-budget report?

Then on Capital Gains Tax, the reforms are bungling and incompetent. The taper relief system encouraged long term ownership and stability. And the consistent rate between capital and income taxes ensured an honesty in how clever financial analysts structure their products.

In changing the CGT system today Labour has proved how little it understands the British economy, how little it understands small business, and how little it cares for honesty. With income taxed at up to 40% but gains taxed at 18%, well advised investors will make sure that they generate capital gains and not income. Treasury revenues will fall. And an honest tax system is blown apart.

Simpler, fairer and flatter taxes are what Britain cries out for. And there's only one party that has the conviction to deliver those. And that's not Balls.

It was an honour to be asked to chair the Party Conference session on International Development. And what a moving session it was. For a second year the Burmese peace campaigner Zoya Phan spoke about the disaster that is afflicting her beautiful country. Showing us the chains that the military junta makes jailed monks wear, Zoya challenged the international community to put an arms embargo in place against the Burma government. It is to our moral disgrace that military sanctions have not been in place for years. Fortunately, and rightly, Zoya now has asylum to remain in the UK, but she is clear that she just wants to go home. I hope that soon she can.

Andrew Mitchell led a team of speakers who had attended the amazing and life-changing Conservative trip to Rwanda this summer. Andrew's commitment to international development (unlike Secretary of State Douglas Alexander) is commendable and shows that Conservatives really do understand the social responsibility that we have for those less fortunate than ourselves across the whole world. His whole speech can be read here

The considerable impact of the Conservative visit to Rwanda this summer was reflected by the attendance at conference of the President of the Republic of Rwanda, His Excellency Paul Kagame, who I had the privilege of introducing onto the Conference stage.

 

“Music is magic. It gives a person a special sensitivity for society”. So says Gustavo Dudamel, the hottest property in classical music, and at just 26 the conductor-designate of the LA Philharmonic Orchestra

 

Those lucky enough to get hold of a ticket for the Proms last night witnessed one of the most remarkable concerts in living memory. But the 26 year old Venezuelan is more than just a conductor of another youth orchestra in south America. He is the product of a system that is transforming society in his homeland, forging a sustainable community.

 

Sir Simon Rattle says that “the most important thing happening in the world of music today is happening in Venezuela”. Every child and particularly those from the most deprived regions of what remains a poor country, is given the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. There is a no rejection policy. Each child is given the chance to have a go, to be part of the team. As a consequence across Venezuela El Sistema is delivering a renewed sense of order, commitment, serenity and real community.

 

Oh how we need a dose of the same magic here in Britain.

 

Venezuela has a population of 26 million people. This year, 298,000 children are taking part in El Sistema, a system that provides children from the age of two with a musical instrument and friends to perform with. More than 300 orchestras of as many as 600 players each exist across the country, and the result is, as Dudamel himself puts it “a community of brothers and sisters playing in harmony together”.

 

There is nothing to compare with making music in public, and I speak from thirty years experience as a choral singer. With the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus I sang at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall last Saturday night, a concert about which The Guardian’s music critic Tim Ashley wrote “I confess to being blown away, which is the highest compliment I can pay it.” So I know the commitment, energy, and vitality that performance brings. There is nothing to match it; except perhaps the elation of a general election victory.

 

But in Britain, classical music is perceived as remote, elitist, tedious, and out of reach. So why the difference? Why is the emotion and vitality that runs through the fibre of every Venezuelan child not mirrored in Britain? Can our broken society, wracked with urban youth that all too often lacks drive, purpose or ambition, be healed in the same way that Venezuela has inspired a whole generation?

 

The answer has to be yes. A Conservative government, with social responsibility as its mantra, must champion the social enterprises that can deliver greater community cohesion. And musical performance, as El Sistema in Venezuela has proved for thirty years, is a model that delivers. We should deliver it here too.

Summer is always a difficult time in politics. Rumours spread, gossip mongers gossip, and the press, desperate for a story to light up their newsless pages, crawl around to unearth non-stories that make headlines from sources with little relevance or context.

In juxtaposition to that I was delighted to read an article by my friend Peter Luff in which he explains the changes that David Cameron is making to the Conservative Party and to politics in Britain.

Peter summarises so clearly what the Conservatives stand for:

"David Cameron believes in the virtue of people taking control of their lives, in families, in communities and in voluntary organisations. Unlike Gordon Brown, he does not believe the state knows best. This means, for example, that taxes will be lower, power exercised more locally and marriage properly protected only under a Conservative government."

"Second, he believes in the old words that we should be in Europe but not run by Europe. He is holding the government to its promise of a referendum on the new European treaty – or constitution to give it its more accurate name. Gordon Brown is seeking to sell Britain down the river and break his manifesto promise."

"Third, he believes in protecting the liberties of the British people, so brutally trampled under foot by this government. On a range of issues, from giving parliament an opportunity to repeal the hunting ban to opposition to identity cards, he has demonstrated his opposition to Labour’s authoritarian state."

"Fourth, he respects the institutions of this nation. His instinct is to stand up for the organisations and structures that have served us well, and not, like Gordon Brown, to cast them heedlessly to one side. We will protect parliament, the legal system and all those other manifestations of our liberties and traditions that support and nurture the country of which we are so proud, but which Labour does not begin to understand."
"Put simply, he is leading the kind of Conservative party that is in tune with the hopes and aspirations of the British people. That’s the only way we will win. More importantly, it’s the kind of government this country wants and needs."

Read the whole article here:

http://www.midworcestershireconservatives.com/story.asp?rid=926

Peter's article and his summary are the reasons why both his and my support for David Cameron is total and unqualified.

I was delighted to hear this afternoon that my friend Kulveer Ranger has been appointed as the Conservative's new Vice Chairman for Cities. Kulveer succeeds Sayeeda Warsi who has been appointed to the Shadow Cabinet.

Its been a pleasure to get to know Kulveer over the last couple of years. He is a dedicated and loyal rising star who has proven himself in the real world of business as a project manager. He brings skills to politics that are so badly needed: honesty, integrity, loyalty, and a desire to listen.

I'm particularly glad that Kulveer's job will overlap my own as vice-president of the Party's National Convention. My responsibility as Board representative for the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside, the West Midlands and the South West, means that I cover the majority of Britain's cities. I spoke to Kulveer this afternoon, and we are really looking forward to working together.

Being vice-chairman for Cities is a major challenge, and one that I know Kulveer will take up with alacrity. We all know that for the Conservative renaissance to really build One Nation we have to win across the cities of the Midlands and North to a far greater extent than we have for many years. Its great that we lead the council in cities like Birmingham and Coventry. But Kulveer's challenge will be to work with associations, social enterprises, and businesses whose participants might become councillors so that we have the very best people who can bring their skills to the transformation of urban life. Britain is crying out for that change in an almost unanimous voice.

It really is quite extraordinary how a minor setback causes some rather small people to try to seize their moment in the spotlight. So it was with the entirely unimpressive and treacherous Quentin Davies: a large man with a red face who’d never been heard of before, and who the cuckolded people of Lincolnshire hope they’ll never see again.

 

Granted, both Ealing and Sedgefield were disappointments. But what can we learn from the Liberals who did so well? They rally themselves as one effective unit, they work incessantly, and they use their small resources well.

 

I went to Ealing Southall twice, and spent a few hours telephone canvassing too. The lack of manpower was glaring. At the splendid and no doubt highly valuable K&C offices just off Chelsea’s Kings Road banks of phone lines were available. Yet on an evening just ten days before the election I was the only telephone canvasser. A rum deal from the membership of one of the most populous Associations with more approved candidates than anywhere else in the land.

 

So we only have ourselves to blame for managing to maintain but not extend our vote in both Ealing and Sedgefield, despite excellent candidates in both.

 

And yet it seems rumours abound again about letters to the Chairman of the 1922 committee.

 

If a single MP really is calling for a leadership contest they should listen carefully to the members of the Conservative Party. The Party members are wonderfully loyal, and they make it clear that we’ve only just had a leadership election in which they voted resoundingly and overwhelmingly for a new direction. With the largest and most engaging policy review in thirty years under way now is the time for all Conservatives to hold their nerve. By Christmas much of the policy review will be in place, and that exciting new direction will be clarified for all.

 

To a degree it is the Conservatives’ misfortune that the media has a new Prime Minister with whom to garner favour, and that the new PM is making some fairly popular and frankly unsurprising gestures to show that he is different from his co-Leader of the past ten years.

 

But if anyone is clamouring for change in the Conservative Party they should aim their fire where change is truly needed lest they forget that Gordon Brown has been the past that so damaged Britain.

 

It was Gordon Brown who raided our pension schemes and caused thousands of small businesses to be bankrupted and tens of thousands of pensioners to be left with nothing.

 

And it was Gordon Brown who sold off Britain’s reserves of gold bullion. The so called “iron chancellor” made the most incompetent decision in the modern history of the British Exchequer selling 400 tonnes of gold at $280 an ounce, investing the proceeds in Euros.  With the price of gold now up by 147%, experts estimate that Brown’s bullion decision alone cost £2 billion.