thetorydiary

I apologise to regular ConHome readers for the price of this conference but the revenues generated by ConservativeIntelligence fund this website and ensure we provide a 'free-to-air' and expanding service.

Next Wednesday, 20th January ConservativeIntelligence will be holding a four hour conference on the 2010 Tory manifesto. At the conference we'll be publishing a comprehensive guide to Conservative policies that all attendees will take home with them.

• The Head of Policy for the Conservative Party, Oliver Letwin MP, will open the conference with a thirty minute presentation.
• Tim Montgomerie will deliver a keynote presentation on the policy changes likely to characterise any Tory government's first 100 days and also publish polling of 144 Tory candidates in target seats.
• We'll look at the think tanks likely to be key influences on policy development and at the likely consequences for policy implementation if the Tory majority is very small.
• At the conference the big themes of the Conservative manifesto will be dissected by a Q&A panel of Daniel Finkelstein (The Times), Jill Kirby (The Centre for Policy Studies) and Neil O'Brien (of Policy Exchange).
• A second Q&A panel with Michael Fallon MP, Peter Lilley MP and Ian Taylor MP will examine the implementation challenge.
• The manifesto guide itself is full of fascinating commentary. Stephan Shakespeare writes about the Post-Bureaucratic Age. Dan Hannan looks at the Tory localist agenda. James Forsyth examines David Cameron's approach to running Whitehall.
• We list the Tory policy pledges for all key areas and twenty expert commentators from think tanks, academia and the business world evaluate the extent to which Tory policies are commensurate with the nation's challenges.

TO BOOK PLEASE CLICK HERE.

ConservativeHome is delighted to announce that Paul Goodman MP will be joining the editorial team as a part-time contributor and consultant from 1st January 2010.

Paul will be Contributing Editor and share responsibility for coverage of the General Election.

Paul Goodman MP commented:

"I'm delighted to be joining Britain's leading conservative website, and working more closely with Tim Montgomerie and Jonathan Isaby. ConservativeHome has already established itself as the most authoritative broadsheet commentator on centre right politics - campaigning for Conservative beliefs and championing the Party grassroots. This pre-election period will clearly be a compelling period for the site and its readers, and I'm excited by the opportunities that the New Year will present."

Founder of ConservativeHome, Tim Montgomerie commented:

“ConservativeHome has ambitions to grow significantly in the years ahead. Our aim is to make ConHome the indispensable place for coverage of Conservative politics – including policy, strategy and personnel - and wider developments on the centre right in the UK. That ambition became realistic earlier this year when Lord Ashcroft joined Stephan Shakespeare as an investor in the project. The addition of Paul to the team is a massive leap forward for the site. His knowledge of the party and his background in journalism should help us to fulfil our aim to be ‘the quality newspaper of the blogosphere’.”

Paul Goodman is standing down as MP for Wycombe at the next General Election. He was Comment Editor of The Daily Telegraph before his election to Parliament.

On Monday ConservativeHome is going through a mini relaunch. A couple of under-developed pages will be mothballed and two new pages will appear.

One of those new pages will be a focus on centre right think tanks and their publications.  The other new page is LeftWatch.  We launched a blog dedicated to Gordon Brown - TheWrongMan - in the run up to what we thought was going to be an autumn 2007 election and 'Left Watch' will look at the key weaknesses of our political opponents on the Left, including the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and the SNP.

If you would like to help with Left Watch please get in touch and use the thread below to suggest the sort of material you would like to see it produce.

Tim Montgomerie

Forgive the blowing of our own trumpet but our Europe story was right in the two fundamentals that there would no referendum on Lisbon and that instead of a wider referendum there would be a 'manifesto mandate' to renegotiate. We hat-tipped Nick Watt and Nick Robinson but it was the robustness of the ConHome story - and our detail - that set the news agenda for the following 36 hours.

It's our second big exclusive of the last year. We also got there first with the inside story on the Tories abandoning the pledge to match Labour on spending.

Alongside confidently calling London for Boris as the polls closed, revealing the A-list membership and announcing Brown's bottling of the 2007 election they are our most proud exclusives.

On a matter of housekeeping I'd be grateful if commenters reduced the amount of chit chat.

By chit chat I mean replying to people about personal trivia rather than the subject of the post. Most people want to read comments that are substantial and aren't interested in where people are going on holiday or whether it is sunny today.

I also take this opportunity - yet again - to ask people to avoid feeding the trolls. We have some intelligent commenters from other parties and they are welcome.  Then we have people like Mr. Mxyzptlk. These people really are best ignored.

Tim Montgomerie

One of the advantages of ConservativeHome's new business structure is that we can plan our expansion with more confidence.

Today we are announcing the search for members of a new creative team.  The creative team will help ConHome produce educational video, viral YouTubes and feature presentations.

We are seeking people with camera and video editing skills.  We will use our available budget to employ full time employees or a combination team of part-time assistants, depending upon the nature of the applications received.

If you have creative skills and would be interested in joining this creative team please send your CV to tim@conservativehome.com.  Applications should be submitted before midday on 12th October 2009.

Tim Montgomerie

On Sunday I reported the fact that Lord Ashcroft has become the majority investor in ConservativeHome.  ConservativeHome is part of a new company that will be chaired by Stephan Shakespeare, who previously owned 100% of ConservativeHome. The investment is significant. It is another sign of the blogosphere's emergence as a power in the media marketplace. The investment will help ConHome to expand. The support of a major figure like Lord Ashcroft is a signal that the centre right does not intend to rest on its laurels when it comes to using new media for political communication. I am very grateful to Lord Ashcroft for the confidence he has shown in us. The first fruit of our new financial stability will be evident tomorrow morning at 9am.

The big issue raised by Lord Ashcroft's investment is the question of independence. It is a question raised by Daniel Finkelstein's team of leader writers in this morning's Times. "Will the site be willing, in future," the leader asks, "to challenge the [Ashcroft-funded] target seat campaign or to question Lord Ashcroft’s tax affairs if they become a hot political topic?" Those are fair questions (from a newspaper that has sometimes been obsessed with Lord Ashcroft) and let me attempt to reassure readers.

1. The major campaigns of this website will still be determined by our grassroots polls. On the eve of Tory Conference, we'll be publishing our grassroots manifesto (trailed here). ConHome will remain the home of the grassroots and that will mean we'll sometimes clash with CCHQ and with Lord Ashcroft.
2. I, for example, do not agree with Lord Ashcroft on donations to political parties. He thinks there should be no limits. I do support limits. Jonathan Isaby, my co-editor, agrees with Lord Ashcroft. I'm still of the view that Lord Ashcroft's 'Smell the Coffee' report of 2005 was a flawed document. It seriously neglected, for example, the importance of social justice as a key to Tory renewal. It was a more socially liberal document than if it had been written by the average Tory member. Lord Ashcroft will not be above criticism from this website when it is merited.  
3. Lord Ashcroft has given firm assurances that he will never interfere with our editorial judgments. I'm confident in those assurances. And let me be absolutely clear: If he were ever to instruct me to change an editorial line, I would resign without hesitation. I do not expect to need to.
4. One of the reasons I'm confident that a confrontation with Lord Ashcroft won't arise is the experience of others who have worked for him.  Iain Dale, for example, has noted that Total Politics has never been subject to any editorial pressure from Lord Ashcroft.
5. Stephan Shakespeare is Chairman of the company that owns ConHome. On a two person board he has the casting vote. I report to Stephan on business matters as I have for the last three years. Stephan and I discuss politics all the time but he has never required or even asked me to change an editorial position.

As I wrote on Sunday, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. Over time this site will remain a vibrant home of grassroots opinion or it will wither. Jonathan Isaby and I have no intention whatsoever of letting it wither. Our new financial strength means the best of ConHome is yet to come.

Tim Montgomerie

I recently suggested an ambition to create a new free news site that looks like an online British newspaper but where the content is provided by bloggers rather than conventionally-paid journalists.  I am pleased to announce that we have secured the backing of Lord Ashcroft to take forward this vision.

Yesterday an agreement was signed between Lord Ashcroft and Stephan Shakespeare that sees ConservativeHome become part of a new media company. Michael Ashcroft will be majority owner of this company (57.5%) with Stephan as the main minority shareholder and Chairman.

I have been given solid assurances by Michael that he does not wish to interfere with ConservativeHome's editorial policy in any way.  I am completely satisfied with those assurances and am delighted that such a major figure in the Conservative Party is willing to invest in the future of this website.  The proof of the pudding is, as always, in the eating and I hope and expect you'll see ConservativeHome and related initiatives go from strength to strength in the months and years ahead.

Tim Montgomerie

I've just spoken to a very happy Jonathan Isaby who asked his girlfriend Claudia to marry him yesterday evening and she accepted.  "Without hesitation" he tells me!  I'm thrilled for both of them.

He left a voicemail for me earlier but I was slow to return it and learnt first of all from Twitter!  That's a first for me :-)

Tim Montgomerie

 Each weekday - between 9am and 10am - ConservativeHome emails out The Conservative Daily.

The Conservative Daily links to all the big Tory news stories of the day and alerts you to all the top ConservativeHome features. Readers of The Daily include more than fifty MPs, two hundred journalists and hundreds of councillors.  Readers are among the best-informed observers of the Conservative scene within Britain.

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ConservativeHome will be cruising down the Thames on Thursday 23rd July from 7pm until just after 10pm.

Daniel Hannan MEP will be joining us for the cruise and will be making a brief speech.  During the evening we'll also announce the winners of our movement awards.

The cost will be £30 and will include a big BBQ.  After one free drink there will be a cash bar.  If you'd like to join us for the cruise please send a £30 cheque (made payable to ConservativeHome) to ConservativeHome, 5 The Sanctuary, Westminster, London, SW1P 3JS.  Alternatively you can pay by PayPal.  Click here and pay £30.

Tim Montgomerie

ConservativeHome is holding a conference on 30th June entitled Inside David Cameron's Conservatives.  It'll feature contributions from, among others, me, Jonathan Isaby, Michael Gove, George Osborne, Matthew Parris, Rachel Sylvester and Matthew Taylor.

Jonathan and Tom Greeves are currently on much lighter day-to-day duties as they prepare what I hope will be two indispensable guides to the next generation of Conservative MPs and of the 'machine insiders' who work behind-the-scenes at CCHQ and in Parliament.

Full details of the conference can be read here.

A few of you have emailed me - unhappy at the £250 price tag (£100 for charities).  I'm sorry about that but ConHome is a free-to-access website with no advertising.  We need to fund the site somehow and this conference is an important contribution.

I hope to film some key sessions of the Conference and to put the videos on to YouTube.  Sections of the Isaby/ Greeves guides will also appear on ConHome.  I'm sorry it can't be more than that.

Tim Montgomerie

Over the weekend of 18th April we introduced a new comments system.  As of today it is operational on all ConHome pages.  We have had to move ToryDiary to this new page to make this happen.  There were just too many comments on the old ToryDiary to integrate into the new system.

I encourage you to register for a TypePad account via this page.  This will allow your comments to be accompanied by an image and for your previous comments to be listed on one page.  The image could be a photograph of yourself or something else distinctive.  My favourite so far is the one chosen by TRG Tory on the right.  He/she has made his/her affiliation clear!  Others like Dan Beckham are using a proper picture of themselves.  By registering you can also provide other readers with more information about you.  TRGTory has chosen to tells us that they come from Edinburgh.  The profile also gives a history of comments.

Other benefits of the new system include a simple facility to reply to others' comments and to delete your comment if you are unhappy with it... but this delete option only lasts a few minutes.

You will still be able to leave comments exactly as before if you do not want to register but those willing to register are demonstrating a certain openness.

Tim Montgomerie

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