Blogging from Bournemouth3- 'Compassionate Conservatism' and a chance meeting!
Tim Montgomerie, editor of www.ConservativeHome.com and a noted 'Compassionate Conservative' addresses a point at the fringe meeting above and Dr Alan Drew pictured
If an 'Audience with George Osborne' was easygoing political knockabout, the next Policy Exchange event was a little more intellectually challenging but was none the worse for that.
The event was chaired by Jesse Norman who has recently co-authored a booklet entitled ‘Compassionate Conservatism- what it is and why we need it’ with the improbably named Janan Ganesh. Modestly, I thought, Jesse didn’t reveal to the audience that he has just been added to the latest trench of a-list candidates. The speakers were Tim Montgomerie (probably best known as editor of www.ConservativeHome.com but a serious policy researcher in his own right) and Oliver Letwin MP.
I have long thought that Letwin would make a brilliant progressive Home Secretary and I asked a question noting how little we were talking about crime and the scourge of drugs as a party at the moment. Pointing out that crime was a regressive force that hit the poorest in society disproportionately, both speakers took up the subject keenly and this was followed up by a number of delegates, especially the leader of a council in the East of England that had implemented some of Letwin’s earlier proposals.
At this point a delegate behind me gave me his card- it was Dr Alan Drew, editor of the http://www.prisonworks.org/ website who also runs the excellent
http://www.dailypropaganda.co.uk/
I had been reading his work last week having followed the link from Prague Tory
http://www.praguetory.blogspot.com/ and was delighted when Alan introduced me to the guy who it turned out was none other than PragueTory himself!
They were both really bright, engaging guys (you don’t need me to say that, visit their sites!) and I promised to write an article on crime for Alan’s site.
All in all, a very enjoyable evening!
posted by Matt Dean at 12:59 am
3 Comments:
Hey Matt - Good to meet you - that's what Conference is all about isn't it? And thanks for the kind words. You've written eloquently on this Compassionate Conservatism session. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The lecture went down very well with a demanding audience and the panel answered a range of questions knowledgeably and persuasively.
seen any of the UKIP jam
Hi Matt
Great to meet up with you. It's a shame we only bumped into each other for that 30 minutes. Next time, we will have to make sure it is longer!
I look forward to that article :) I'll link to you later this evening - am still at work, taking a short break :)
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