Priorities of the "New" Party
Posted by AlanWCollins on Monday, 01 January 2007 14:46:19
As my profile says I am a 16 (2 days off 17 at time of writing) year-old member of the Party.
Recently I attended a Party hosted by one of your supposed A-listers (not that we would know for obvious reasons), Rehman Chishti, one of the members of my local Council.
In the lead-up to the party, and after he first visited me, I decided to find out a little more about his history. It is great that he is ambitious, it is great that he saw the light and came over from the Labour Party, and it is great that we have another under-30 member from an ethnic minority.
So Reh was a perfect candidate to prove that the party has changed and become more diverse. Which is why, presumably, so much was made about his defection, and he has quickly become Francis Maude's Advisor on Diversity and Ethnic Minorities.
More controversially, a party rule was waived to allow Reh to re-apply to the Candidates' Assessment Panel within a few months of his first failed attempts.
Don't get me wrong, I feel that, in many ways, Reh would be a great candidate for contesting one of the many marginal seats in the South-East, but it does raise a serious question.
How far are you prepared to push your life-long, "veteran", members and supporters to the back-burner in order to prove that the image of the party has changed sufficiently to be able to form a viable Government, Mr Cameron? Where would they fit in in your new priorities?
Reh Chishti, MPs, Candidates, veterans, Alist