Keep up the momentum

What an excellent election outcome for the Conservatives! A significant increase in the number of councillors nationwide. More councils are now under Conservative control. And Labour was kicked down to third place in terms of their share of votes!!!

Calling up 200+ candidates on Wednesday was worth it after all!!!

The outcome is proof that David Cameron’s message is getting through to people on the ground. The message sent out from head office was positive and forward-looking. No negative campaigning. No smearing. It was, simply, good.

What made it better was the emphasis on local associations running their own show in their own areas. The only big issue put forward from central office was the environment - all councils have responsibility for clean and green environment. But local associations have the freedom to decide what issues they want to campaign on. They know their areas better. They should be trusted to run their own campaign as they see fit. This resulted in activists in Trafford campaigining on very different issue from those in South Bedfordshire or Chorley. While Labour was mired in problems they created themselves, and while the LibDems were (and still is) struggling to decide why they exist at all, Conservatives' activists were motivated and their campaigns were well-targetted. Luton’s local council election is next year. We are now still in the process of selecting candidates, and my selection panel is this Friday. I have put my name forward as a potential candidate and will attend the selection panel on Friday.

Luton Borough Council has 48 councillors. Currently, we have 21 Liberal Democrat, 20 Labour, 3 independents, and 4 Conservative councillors. The LibDems control the Council Executives (i.e.: the cabinet), but the Conservatives have relatively strong say due to the council not being under the LibDems’ overall control. The aim next year is to significantly increase the number of seats, and we are targeting quite a few wards. We cannot be complacent. The task ahead is huge, especially in multicultural boroughs like Luton. Let us hope the momentum created in this election will remain until next year.

What an exciting day!

My first day at the Conservatives Research Department today. An extremely good day! Officially, I am on the DTI team. But the work (even on the first day) is very varied. I can’t go into the details for confidentiality reasons, but suffice to say that my longer term responsibility is to assist with policy on social enterprise. But I also had a look into nuclear policy and the party’s stand on Hamas. On top of that, I helped coordinate the intelligence gathering process for the local elections, and did some work that may be useful in tomorrow’s Prime Minister’s Question. If there is time, which I don’t think there will be, I may go out campaigning tomorrow.