James Deighton 4 CF Appointed Officer

Manifesto: ‘Sound policies for a sound future.’

After an amazing year on the National Executive I have decided to stand for a second term as Appointed Officer as I feel that I still have much to offer the national organisation. I have many ideas about how to take CF forward in the coming year and I can use my previous experience from my time on the exec to get things up and running much faster.

I believe in sound policies, not fancy slogans and gimmicks. What you see is what you get, and I always strive to be a straight talker. I believe that what CF needs is actions not words, and that we need to continue the development and implementation of a more professional and accountable system for CF. I am committed to achieving this aim through better communication and further training for the membership. My vision for CF can be broken down into five policy pledges:

1. I pledge to work towards the creation of a dedicated National CF Conference.

Should I be elected to the NME I will immediately work towards the creation of a national CF Conference. I believe that a conference is essential if we as a national organisation are to truly bond. At the moment there are very few opportunities for CF members to gather together nationally and consequently the outer regions of the country can often feel isolated and excluded from the rest of CF. A CF national conference will help remedy this by finally bringing people together.

A national conference also has the advantage of bringing the membership and the NME together in one place. This will allow the membership to directly approach the NME with grievances (and also praise), allowing their voices to be heard and holding the NME to account.

Last but not least, a CF conference will provide us all with an opportunity to have a good time and celebrate CF. Those of us who are lucky enough to have been to party conference will know what a great experience it can be. I believe that a dedicated CF conference can bring the same atmosphere of excitement and celebration to CF.

2. I pledge to implement a series of regional training days in each region across the country in conjunction with the regional associations.

My second pledge, should I be elected, is to implement a series of regional training days. Training days are currently organised by CF in conjunction with CCHQ, but these events are one offs that are only ever held in London. Consequently the space on these training days is very limited and attendance is therefore often open only to regional, area and branch chairman. This often leads to the absurd situation where hard working members of CF who would gain a lot from these sessions are excluded because they do not hold the title of chairman. I mean to end this absurdity.

I wish to organise a circuit of regional training days covering each region, which I propose to run in conjunction with regional executives. Sessions will focus on a mixture of vital campaigning skills, advice on how to support and grow branches, and spreading best practice. These training days will be open and relevant to all members, whether they are branch members or chairman. There will be something for everyone and I hope these sessions will forge links between the regions and the national executive.

I further pledge that I will attend every training session, from the South West to the North East. Where appropriate, I will also lead training sessions in person. Hopefully this should make me available and provide the membership with opportunity to approach me directly with issues and questions.

3. I will further decentralise CF and redistribute more of the administration and decision making to the regions.

I wish to use my position on the NME to defend the right of the areas and regions to govern themselves, as far as is possible and practicable within the constitution. Although I believe that the national executive clearly has an important role to play in CF governance, I don’t believe in unnecessary central intervention in local affairs.

Regional, area and branch executives are more than just for show. They are vital bodies of devolved CF government who should be given the freedom and room to govern their own affairs as they see fit. If I am re-elected I pledge that I will never seek to interfere unnecessarily in the affairs of the regions and will, to the best of my ability, encourage my colleagues on the NME to do the same.

I also wish to see the Regional College strengthened and transformed into a functional body. Currently far too many major decisions are taken unilaterally by the executive without consultation, while the regional college sits by ineffective. If the NME is to exist as CF’s executive; managing the party on a day to day basis, then there is no reason the regional college should not take the role of CF’s legislature; holding the NME to account and sharing in the big decisions.

4. I will work hard to develop constituency branches across the country to strengthen CF outside of our university strongholds.

We should be justly proud of the fact that CF is the biggest youth political movement in the country and dominates the nation’s universities. This however is not the end of the battle, but only the start. CF is an organisation that caters for all members of the party up to the age of 30, but currently we offer little to members who are either too old or too young to be involved at university.

The solution to this problem is to build and strengthen our non-university constituency branches. By doing so we provide young professionals who have left university with a new opportunity to remain involved with CF, rather than just drift off into the wilderness as many ex-university members currently do. To encourage CF members under the age of 18 to get involved I will if re-elected work on a Schools and Collages best practice guide specifically for these members. This will help to make their involvement that much easier and straightforward especially if they want to start a branch from scratch.

To achieve this aim I pledge to offer the regions and areas all the support I am able to give in developing their constituency branches in conjunction with the Deputy Chairman Membership.

5. I will build upon the recent success of the Best Practice Guide and supervise its implementation across the country.

During my first term as the Appointed/National Best Practice Officer I undertook a major overhaul of the information available to CF members. I researched, developed, and produced the Best Practice Guide, which was published at the last conference to help the membership with jobs such as running fresher’s fairs, organising events and dealing with the media. By all accounts the pack was much needed and well received.

In my next term I hope to see this pack implemented at local level. To this extent I pledge to work closely with the regions and offer them any help I can provide. It is essential that we do not waste this opportunity to improve our internal administration and procedure. We are not going to continue to evolve as an organisation unless we adapt to the changing political challenges of today.

It also my intention, should I win another term, to extend the best practice pack to include colleges and schools. This new advice should hopefully help branches recruit members of below university age. This is something I know we have so far struggled with as a party and something that requires immediate attention.

Conclusion

I believe that CF will work best if it’s members are given the right opportunities and training to succeed, and are given as much power to do what they think is right for their areas. If you give me the opportunity to serve again on the National Executive I will work closely with my colleagues to deliver a CF that listens to the members and respects their opinions. A CF that will always fight for what we believe in and deliver on its promises.