Spurred on by the successes of the University of Surrey branch, a group of Guildford’s young Conservatives have decided to establish a Guildford branch of Conservative Future – the wing of the Conservative party for 18-30s.

The group hopes that it will grow and attract a broad range of people from all different backgrounds to the Conservative Party, serving Guildford and the surrounding villages. Michael Chambers, the coordinator of the launch said “We want to reach out to young conservatives from across the Guildford area and offer them a platform to express their views and an opportunity to meet like-minded people”.

Already Conservative Future (CF) is the largest youth political organisation with over 10,000 members nationwide. CF organises a wide variety of social and political events up and down the country.

Anne Milton, Prospective MP for Guildford, has offered her support to the new group. Anne was a tremendous aide to University of Surrey Conservative Future branch. Anne added “It’s great to see Conservative Future growing at such a fast pace! I will do whatever I can to promote the organisation, and encourage young people to get involved in politics”.

Guildford CF’s founding members are currently planning the programme of local social events which will be kicking off with a gathering of members at The Spectrum where members will be bowling with some of Surrey’s Conservative MPs and Parliamentary candidates. The first political event Guildford CF will be taking part in is a dinner discussion with Boris Johnson MP – the outspoken editor of The Spectator newspaper.

Other forthcoming events: Comedy Night with Jim Davidson – Mr Davidson, a longstanding supporter of the Conservative party, has offered to host the event at his home near Guildford; a trip to watch a Parliamentary debate as guests of the Shadow Cabinet.

Additional benefits of CF membership include: a vote in party elections (including the election of the party leader); the opportunity to attend the annual party Conference (where there are special CF social events), and an annual Youth Conference.

Waqas Ahmad commented, “It’s up to us to fight apathy amongst young people by showing how much politics matters, and how much we can get done by working together”.

Towards the end of the year, CF will be sending out a survey entitled “You Talk, We Listen” to young people aged 18 to 24, in the area. The aim is to gather the views of Guildford’s youth population on important issues and policy areas. The findings of which could help to shape future Conservative government policy.

Anne Milton added: “The results of the survey will be taken very seriously, and will be seen by the party leadership. The voice of the young is the voice of the future, and politicians must realise that”.

Visit the national CF website: http://www.conservativefuture.com

21st October 2004