Harry Phibbs is a councillor in Hammersmith and Fulham and a regular contributor to the Social Affairs Unit's blog.
Increasingly our opponents seem to be focusing on dissent within the
Conservatives. This poses a dilemma for Conservative Home as a public
forum for debate and constructive criticism of the Conservative
leadership. Given that hostile journalists will scan through
for damaging comments about David Cameron would it be in the best
interests of the Conservative cause for the site to be closed down?
Emphatically not. The site has been enormously valuable in ensuring
Party members are better informed and motivated and thus more effective.
The criticism over mundane Party organisation matters is thankfully of
limited interest to the media but well worth including. In some
respects CCHQ embodies characteristics of the public sector which
ironically those who work there are charged with highlighting as part
of the Conservative message. Like the public sector CCHQ is
bureaucratic, inefficient, arrogant, resistant to change and shows
inertia about rewarding success or punishing failure. Too many
meetings, too little output. By providing some accountability the
Conservative Home website acts at least as something of an antidote, a
means to keep these tendencies in check.
Continue reading "Harry Phibbs: Should anonymous commenters be banned?" »
Harry Phibbs is a councillor in Hammersmith and Fulham and a regular contributor to the Social Affairs Unit's blog.
Congratulations. By now you should have caught up on some sleep, booked a date for a thank you party for the activists in your Ward to whom you owe your election, filled in the form for your bank account details to receive your £9,000 a year (leaving the section on your ethnic group blank and firing off an indignant email to the relevant Council officer asking why it was not made clear on the form that the completion of such a section is voluntary).
Soon the official photograph taken of your blurry eyed after your result was announced will be put on the official Council website. Perhaps you have already had a schedule of briefing sessions for new councillors on the 27 different things that your Council is responsible for. They will be held over the next couple of weeks with lots of bullet points and slide shows and briefing papers - while impressed by the knowledge and intelligence of the Council officers conducting the briefing you will be befuddled by the jargon and have to keep asking them to use plain English.
You will also wait with eager anticipation to see what Scrutiny Committees and outside bodies you have been appointed to. Go to the meetings. Make notes. Ask questions. It is vital to have a grasp of how the Council works and what it does if you are going to make a difference. But don't confuse process with substance. Simply attending meetings is not enough. You have been elected to reduce the Council Tax and improve the services. When you see waste and inefficiency you have a duty to challenge it. I fear you will find no shortage of material but if you want some ideas for questions click here.
Continue reading "Harry Phibbs: Memo to new Conservative councillors" »
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