In 2016, choosing a leadership candidate was very easy. I am a Leaver, and at the time I thought the only leader that can deliver Brexit and the best outcome for our nation is a Leaver, so my choice was Andrea Leadsom. Whom I got to know a little when I was a parliamentary candidate. We all know what happened then and like any loyal Conservative I accepted the outcome and fell behind my new leader, encouraged by her message of hope I was optimistic.

Though not my choice, in time I warmed to the Prime Minister. She struck me as a woman who knew her mind and a person who ‘believed what said and said what she believed.’ Then a few month later she called that election. Calling the election was not the problem. The problem to me was going back on her word, after affirming many, many times that she won’t call a snap election.

Don’t get me wrong. I have no issue with people changing their mind. I do it all the time, and think changing one’s mind out of necessity or clarity is rather healthy. Just this weekend, I went for a family meal and had a choice of beer, Mojito or Prosecco with my big brunch set meal. After tossing over beer or Mojito, for a good 5 minutes, I ordered the later, yet after just two sips I changed my mind a third time and swapped it for the Prosecco. Now, that change of mind is acceptable, buying a pair of shoes, taking them home and a week later returning them because you no longer like them as much is acceptable. But telling voters and the world, in more than on occasion, you will not call an election then do in a matter of months is a big deal. Because it goes to trust, stability and that old adage of ‘saying what you mean and meaning what you say.’

That is why, when yesterday, in her LBC radio interview with Iain Dale, Theresa May refused to answer which way she will vote if the referendum is rerun, I was comforted and delighted.

So far, May, who wasn’t my preferred candidate, bar that snap election, has shown she is the best choice and has been a superb and sound leader. Dare I say, she is actually the best person for this post. The job of negotiating leaving the EU and putting up with the bullying of Brussels not to mention the relentless abuse from the opposition, celebrity Remainers and even some Leavers. Through it all she showed some guts.

Mrs May is primarily the Prime Minister of the UK. That means, even though Brexit is a priority, she is the head of the 52% that wanted to leave but also the 48% that didn’t. And, by not siding with either she just proved that she puts Britain’s interest ahead of her personal choice. To me that is the sign of a just leader.

It is for that reason I was shocked by those who misunderstood her refusal and started attacking her for it. Particularly those who call themselves Conservatives. Because attacking Theresa May will only weaken her and our stance as a nation in the world stage while strengthen the opposition.

To my fellow Conservatives, May is still the best and only viable leader for our party and the country. I don’t believe in hard or soft Brexit. To me Brexit is just leaving the EU with all its institutions. We don’t want a Canadian Deal, a Swiss or a Norwegian Deal, what we are seeking is a British deal that suits the UK and its unique makeup. Mrs May understands that and from the very beginning promised she will deliver what the country voted for despite herself voting to Remain.

So, let’s forget about what we personally want, and focus on what is best for our country, our children and the future generations. I didn’t want May to lead us, but she has proved to be a good leader. She admitted her mistake so let’s give her the respect and support she needs, unite behind her and stand strong against those who want derail Brexit.

Here’s the link to the interview The link to the intervirw

Open letter to all members of the Conservative party!

Dear friends,

We are a broad church and an inclusive party. That’s what makes us strong and diverse. It’s also what gives us our unique ability to empathise with everyone and allows us to appreciate complex situations where other parties dogmatically fail to comprehend simple differences. It is what makes us vehemently disagree with people like the late Bob Crow yet respectfully acknowledge his positives to eulogise him after his shocking death.

It is what allows us to see the good in every person and an opportunity in every challenge.

Unlike the left we never, in anger and hate celebrate anyone’s death no matter what they did personally to us or collectively to our nation.

We are decent Brits, who see the good, appreciate individuality and respect differences. We are the Conservative Party.

We are always proud of our values, and unafraid to speak our mind in any and every occasion, even if it means speaking against one another. We are feverous in our love to our country and patriotic to a fault. As a family, internally speaking against one another is healthy and can be constructive. But to the outside, as a governing party, it is distracting and can be destructive.

I sometimes feel some members, especially those who are elected members (people whom the media listens to and quotes, and those who have a responsibility to lead by example) still don’t understand that we are in a coalition and as a party have not ‘fully’ gained power since 1992. I also feel they (this particular group) don’t appreciate that getting elected is like a muscle if you don’t train and use it enough it can grow weak and loses its full strength – and we need a Conservative victory.

Let’s face it; up to 2010 we were in the middle of a dry winning spree. We broke that spell with winning more votes and seats but not enough to go it alone. That was a positive because with some compromises (the cost of not winning enough and needing to govern in a partnership) we managed to implement a great deal of our promises.

The reforms we introduced in welfare, education, the NHS and the work George Osborne did in fixing the economy and improving its outlook should give us the support and confidence we need to win outright in 2015. It should be the foundation and catalyst that helps us return a Conservative government.

But instead of working towards that and uniting behind it, instead of pointing out the good we achieved such as better pensions, a stronger economy, 2 million out of paying income tax altogether, higher income tax (45%) for high earners, lower unemployment, lower youth joblessness and all the wonderful work our party has achieved in coalition under the leadership of David Cameron…

It seems, some are busy daily generating negative and divisive headlines, because they don’t like one policy or one person or the way that person is doing things. These individuals are acting as if they don’t know how democracy works!

Daily, whether directly or indirectly these individuals are allowing our enemies to chip at our unity and show us in a negative light to the nation and the electorate. And to think, not that long ago, we saw what this type of propaganda can do and actually did to Gordon Brown!

That is why we need to quit our bickering and quit it now.

The backbiting, private ‘form insiders’ anti Conservatives briefings needs to stop because it will ONLY hurt us and our chances in next year’s election.

We need to ‘temporarily’ forget about the members we lost and who we lost them to. Put aside our differences and focus on motivating and keeping the members we currently have, attracting new and old members back and promote our successes and achievements in this government. We need be positive, speak only positives, contentiously talk about our achievements and put all our energies in winning the next general election outright and returning David Cameron as the Prime Minster in 2015.

Thank you

Sincerely yours

Walaa Idris

As someone who knows Dominic Grieve and worked closely with him (shadowed Dominic for weeks in Parliament and his constituency) I find it very difficult to believe his comments were anything but to guide and assist – to shine a light at an issue that needed to be addressed.

I know what I’m about to say might potentially offend some people but first let’s get a grip and second we need to get real.

Get a grip, because not every comment is intended to offend, and sometimes what offends us is not the comment, but its truth. Because the truth can at times be ugly and that can hurt.

Add to that, we can’t ask our politicians to be frank, expect them to speak their minds and when they do shoot them down for doing what we asked of them!

It’s madness! And it’s neither healthy nor fair, to either them or us.

We also need to get real, because Dominic Grieve wasn’t speaking out of line or telling lies. And here is where the ugly truth hurts.

There have been many instances of suspected corruption (voter fraud and bribery) that involved south Asians in London and other parts of the UK. Many might not like to hear it and some (especially lefties) will use it as an opportunity to act aggrieved by it and attack the Conservatives for that grievance. But the facts still remain, that there has been serious allegations involving members of the Pakistani community.

And that is a cause for concern!

Being concerned that certain practices are undermining our legal and social systems is within Mr Grieve’s remit and duties as Attorney General. And so too is pointing out those concerns.

However, in all of that, what really got my goat is the reaction of some Tory MPs!

Some Conservative MPs where so fast to distance themselves from Dominic, they were probably whiplashed by the speed. I perfectly understand why they did it, but it doesn’t make it right. It’s wrong and cowardly. Plus it doesn’t sit well with party unity and will not help with trust in the long run.

The sad thing though, it is what politicians of all persuasions have to do these days if they want to stay in business.

Unfortunately, today’s politicians have become slaves to political correctness and perceptions, because everything they say and do could cost them the office and their future.

Of course we want our politicians to be frank, honestly speak their mind and candidly share how they feel about issues. Because only then can we truly know the men and women we are electing to represent us and speak in our behalf.

But they can’t!

They can’t, not because, as some would like us to believe, voters cannot handle the truth.

No! They can’t because every word politicians utter is potential ammunition that can be used against them; possible arsenal that can be used to finish and bring them down in a flash.

After UKIP’s serge and the Conservatives less than brilliant performance in the County Council elections earlier this month, I think I now know why the Tories are in trouble.

It has nothing to do with toffs, Etonians and the rest of it. Also my concern here is not with Labour, the LibDems or even UKIP, what they did, are about to do or not do. It’s with my own party whom I see again sleep walking down the self-destruct road.

This might sound unconventional. But from where I am standing, we have three major problems that need addressing if we want to be taken seriously and win the next election.

The first one is easy. We need to talk and listen to each other, do it regularly and remember we are a broad church and that is one of our biggest assets.

I don’t know how we can quite achieve it, but our internal communication sucks and needs to change. We need to take the focus off being on message and put it on being connected and in tune with each other. The type of in tune when one begins a sentence the rest know where that message is going. Once we achieve that sense of togetherness and unity the second point will easily follow.

Next we need to get our mojo back. We need to get back that late 2005, early 2006 feeling when we first elected David Cameron. Get back that winners feeling. There is nothing wrong with winning and wanting to win. Yet we keep talking about losing and dress it up as being realistic. Realistic my foot!? Two years before the election we write ourselves off and call it realistic. No, that’s defeatist and pitiful.

We need our excitement and that sense of winning-ness we had about us back.

Dave is still the same ‘Blue is the new Green’ ‘Huskies drawn sledge’ ‘A List’ guy who will control, monitor and reduce immigration, and repatriate powers back from Europe we loved and admired so much before 2010. We need to think like a family and find a way to love him same as we did back then. Think of our relationship like a marriage we are a little bored with and even not too happy in but we badly need to work and strive at making it succeed.

The final thing we must do is to just stop wanting a new leader, period. Call it killing ambition, lack of vision whatever you like, but all this wannabe leaders are killing our party and if not careful they will soon be leading ghosts in a morgue. They are killing us with their arrogance and selfishness, and it needs to stop.

We need just this one time to accept what we have better and build it up.

Trust me, we have the best leader around, if you don’t believe me then believe the polls. He is the best leader for the country and our party. He is the best leader out of all the other parties’ leaders. Believe me when I say there is no one out there better than David Cameron for this country and the Conservative party.

Six week after Cameron’s famous IN/OUT EU speech and the Conservatives fielding their most right-wing candidate, Maria Hutchings, the Tories dropped to third place and Ukip jumped to second in the Eastleigh by-election. If that is not a clear message I don’t know what is!

Media talk and hype about Conservatives needing or moving the party further right is simply madness. But thankfully, it seems the Guardian Angels of politics are looking out for the Tories. They (the Angles) stopped sending small subtle hints and basically spelled it out in big bright letters – Stop your madness and focus on the job at hand. The warning is very clear – matching Ukip is a trap, a one way street to the graveyard of politics – and will bury the Conservatives forever. In other words be careful and stop the madness!

Chris Grayling yesterday is said to say: “A future Conservative government could scrap the Human Rights Act”. That is nothing new. David Cameron has been saying it since he was elected leader of the party in 2005 and in 2010 it was a party manifesto promise. This is just the kind of thing the media propagates to confuse issues and keep the ‘Tories Lurching to the Right’ talk possible when the party leader has categorically ruled out any change of direction. The Sunday papers also had buried somewhere something on immigration cap – again the Conservatives have always, always said they will cap and control the number of people entering the UK – reducing it from hundreds of thousands to tenth of thousands – again nothing new here either.

So in a weekend when the party had a very bruising kick in Hampshire our discipline and unity were/are formidable. The lesson was clear and simple – don’t take the bait, stay the course and remain united – voters don’t like fragmented disillusioned parties that jump from bandwagon to bandwagon

My personal feeling on all of this – let Ukip be Ukip and don’t allow what happened in Eastleigh to drag the Tories to their level. We are the bigger party, the better party and should continue to act it. I know it’s un-British to say it but sometimes it needs and ought to be said.

Yesterday on the Sunday Politics, Steve White vice chairman of the Police Federation was fast to distance parts of the police and blame the Andrew Mitchell witch-hunt on their organisation being a federation of 43 different bodies. Hinting that the West Midland Federation (then lead by the now deceased Paul McKeever) had the right to sit down with Mitchell and act independently on the findings of their questionings. To Steve White’s credit, he has reiterated that the National Federation did accept Andrew Mitchell’s apology and wanted to move on.

But did they? What about police officers wearing PC Plep t – shirts, someone sanctioned protesting while wearing them? Or regional federations hinting Mitchell lied during his interview with them – when his secret recording proved otherwise? Or when the chairman of the Met Federation encouraged his Twitter followers to fill Andrew Mitchell’s inbox with complaints?

There has clearly been a cleverly organised witch-hunt, with one foot firmly on the ‘we accepted his apology and wanted to move on’ camp while the other is on the ‘kick as hard as you can, see if he jumps’ camp. I fully understand like many other public sectors, the police’s frustration with the cuts and impending reforms. However, I expected better form them. In a country where people are innocent until proven guilty I hoped our police was the first to adhere to that and don’t judge until all the facts are at hand.

Now the facts are hand, their short lived triumph has backfired. Have it on good authority that tonight’s Dispatches will prove this to be so. After four arrests on the Plepgate case, three of whom members of the police, it is high time the Police Federation faced the music.

The Right Honourable Andrew Mitchell MP deserves apologies from them, form the whips office for not 100% believing him, other MPs specially Labour for accusing him without a solid evidence, the Prime Minister’s office for not going the extra mile (I could have done a better, more extensive investigation than they did to find the real truth). They all owe him a profound apology, because they were wrong to disbelieve, discredit and to some extend denounce him.

All this talk about a small group of Tory MPs plotting to oust the current leader, the nation’s Prime Minster is selfish to say the least but it is also a dangerous distraction from what is important, the economy and the much needed reforms. If things were different then maybe it would make some sense. But since that is not the case this plot is a luxury we cannot afford. We cannot appear egotistical and self-consumed when the whole country is hurting in one way or another.

As someone who highly values loyalty and its importance. I find the extent some will go to self-promote is extremely disturbing. So much so, it makes me wonder if they actually inhabit the same universe the rest of us does.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Cameron is perfect, nor 100% on the right track, but he is in a challenging position and doing the best he can to deliver on what he promised in the coalition agreement. Like most Conservatives, I have some issues with parts of the deal, but like most sensible people I understand life is about give and take and about compromise.

Give and take is something most of us do daily in almost all decisions large and small, personal and professional. So why does this particular group of MPs feel that after two and half years in a coalition during a fixed term parliament they are entitled to change the party leadership because now they don’t like being part of a shared rule government? What did David Cameron do that is so wrong, so bad and so unconservative they now need to throw everything away and risk all for a change that neither the grassroots nor the nation will thank them for!? Besides who will replace him? Boris, Liam Fox or David Davis, all wonderful Conservatives but one is the London Mayor; one did not even make it to the leadership finial and one lost big to Cameron!

Of course we don’t yet know who the 12 MPs who wrote to Graham Brady – the chairman of the 1922 Committee – but we can guess who they might be. And, even though this attempt will not trigger a leadership contest, the distraction and lack of allegiance it causes leaves a nasty taste of distrust, not to mention the absence of edification.

What I find puzzling is the notion that the move came about because of the party’s prospects of winning a majority at the next election! Well if the concern is winning an outright majority and it rightly should be, chopping chunks of each other will only benefit our opponents. Besides, if we can’t respect our own leader, why should others!?

They seriously need to consider this, especially on seats and areas where they are not electing police commissioners this November.

With reports this morning that the Lib Dems will begin selecting candidates on the existing boundaries and it seems Labour is/has been doing the same for sometime now. The Tories, as things stand are in a worst position than the other two parties. They are the larger partner in the coalition government and therefore have more to lose. They also have the most apparent inner fighting in the commons, amongst their grassroot, not to mention a decline in their membership uptake.

All these make now the time to become fully focused in imbedding good local candidates in their most difficult seats, local, because its better faster and potentially less troublesome. Plus experience has shown difficult seats work best with local candidates; it is cost-effective both financially and emotionally. Local PPCs will require less work to adopt and can hit the ground running the day after their selection. Plus, with the current growing sense of localism in the country it will be very unwise to buck the trend and even appear to parachute in handpicked CCHQ chums.

If Cameron et al think, pushing through with the Boundary Change Review regardless of what Nick Clegg, Simon Hughes and every Lib Dem said and alluded to in the past week, then he, Cameron, is no different to Clegg, in covering his ears and crying “I gave you AV now give me Boundary Changes!”

Stubbornness can be good; a one track mind tunnel vision can at times get you far. But sometimes it is best to cut your losses and move on. This is one of these times.

Last parliamentary cycle, by around this time (2007) Tories were ready for Brown to call a snap election. So ready they scared him off calling it, remember? Then the Conservatives were in opposition and hungry for government, now they should still be hungry for government because although they are not outside government, they are only half in!

I understand the strategy was initially to wait until after November when the police commissioner elections are done. Nonetheless, politics should and needs to be fluid. The boundary changes are unlikely to happen now, and in light of that, it will be shortsighted to waste valuable time because “that’ was the plan!

“Blue feminists don’t go in for the tokenism their red counterparts support. They despise positive discrimination as a confidence-sapper. Red feminists want the nomenklatura filled with quotas and box-ticking representatives; but blue feminists argue that women, like men, should be chosen on merit, not sex. Knowing they’re the best for the job gives them the self-confidence that the Left’s token women lack.”

By Cristina Odone on the Telegraph Blog