Oliver goes to conference…

Through 3FF, I heard about an organisation called Patchwork Foundation. They aim to promote and seek positive integration of under-represented, deprived and minority communities into British politics. One of the programs Patchwork runs is its Conference Programme that provides an opportunity for young people to attend the Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat party conferences. I was selected to attend the Conservative Conference.

I attended the conference as an undecided voter with the idea of using the visit to see how supportive Conservative members are of their leader David Cameron, especially after the defections of his some of his members to UKIP.

After a tour of the venue, myself and the rest of the Patchwork delegates were taken up to a private room for a Q&A with the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP who is the Secretary State for Culture, Media and Sport. The group posed some challenging questions about getting minorities involved in politics, the threat of UKIP and why he decided to join politics. He answered the questions well and appeared to be in full support of David Cameron.

We all then moved onto the Symphony Hall. Our seats were great – we were 10 rows away from the stage. We heard speeches from Justine Greening who is the Secretary of State for International Development, then the Secretary of State for Defence Rt Hon Michael Fallon MP spoke and finally The Foreign Secretary Rt Hon Phillip Hammond MP. Michael Gove then came on to energise the audience in preparation for the arrival of David Cameron. After a promotional video of the party David Cameron walked onto the stage waving to the crowd who was giving him a standing ovation.

The speech was well put together with humour, gratitude, the celebration of his party’s achievements and encouragement to win the election in 2015. At the end, there was an air of unity as party members left the hall with a feeling of promise – the promise that they could win the election. Despite party members defecting to UKIP that week, David Cameron seemed to have put those thoughts out of the minds of the party members. I left the conference feeling that the Conservative Party members really did see David Cameron as the right candidate for winning the next election.

It was great to attend the conference with such a diverse group of people. The team from Patchwork really made the day enjoyable, they were extremely approachable and knowledgeable.

Oliver Kasin

Like What You Have Read? Want To Be A Part Of It? Apply Here