Oct
28
YBF5 – Activist Training Conference 2008, Wellington College, Berkshire
Last weekend NUCA descended on Wellington College, Berkshire for the 5th Young Britons’ Foundation Activist Training Conference.
Nationally recognised as one of the leading Conservative Future branches, Nottingham University Conservative Association can be particularly proud to have provided by far the largest delegation to the conference; with 7 current NUCA members and 2 NUCA Alumni present. 
Thoroughly enjoyable, during the three-day conference we heard from some of the most influential figures within the conservative movement; including 7 MPs, 1 MEP, high-profile media figures and other senior figures.
Topics during the conference included Freedom, Social Justice, Adam Smith, Tax, Localism, British & American Conservative Movements, the EU, Energy & Environment, Challenging Hate on Campus and Iraq & Georgia.
Practical talks were also given on Handling Negative Information, Use of the Freedom of Information Act, Running Successful Campaigns and The YBF Legal Advice & Support Unit.
A particular highlight for everyone was the Television Techniques Training Workshop on the Saturday morning with Iain Dale, during which each of us was interviewed on camera and the recording played back and critiqued in front of all the conference participants. As something which doesn’t come naturally to most of us I was particularly impressed by how the Nottingham delegates put fears aside and attacked it with gusto!
Friday evening was host to the 2nd Annual Eric Forth Memorial Dinner and the Saturday evening to the 5th Annual Margaret Thatcher Banquet; followed both nights by drinks at the Wellington College Social Club.
The evenings were also a great chance for us to meet fellow Conservative students from around the country, as well as some of the conference guests.
We left unanimously thinking what an incredible weekend it had been, and would like to extend our thanks to YBF, to their generous sponsors and to Donal Blaney in particular, for putting together such an astonishing event. There really is nothing to parallel the YBF Conference.
Particular praise must also be given to the YBF stash (from books, to posters, piggy banks, bottle openers, DVDs…) which was particularly excellent!
The Young Britons’ Foundation is a relatively new organisation (founded in 2002) which exists to make sure that the next generation of conservative activists are well-briefed on the academic backbone of conservative ideas, trained in campaign techniques, media skills and political organisation.
Considering its short life, YBF is a political tour-de-force which provides unrivalled support to conservatives across the country. No other organisation could have put together a weekend like YBF5, and I have no doubt that NUCA will be back, and in hopefully even greater numbers, next year.
List of Speakers:
Friday
Rt Hon David Davis MP
Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP
Dr Eamon Bulter - Director, The Adam Smith Institute
Matthew Elliott - Chief Executive, TaxPayers’ Alliance
Douglas Carswell MP
Donal Blaney – Chief Executive, Young Britons’ Foundation
Cllr Russel Tillson – Shepway District Council
John Whittingdale OBE MP – Chairman of the House of Commons Culture Select Committee
Conor Burns – Conservative Way Forward
Saturday
Iain Dale – Broadcaster, Columnist, Blogger & Publisher
Ed Vaizey MP – Shadow Culture Secretary
Cllr Paul Osborn – Director of Strategy, Young Britons’ Foundation
Mark Clarke – Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Tooting
Roger Helmer MEP
Iain Murray – Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Douglas Murray – Director, Centre for Social Cohesion
David Canzini – Former Head of Conservative Party Campaigns
Cllr Greg Smith – Co-Founder, Young Britons’ Foundation
Eric Pickles MP
Sunday
Jonathan Isaby – The Daily Telegraph
Lucy Sherby – Communications Consultant
Matthew Richardson – Barrister (YBF Legal Advice & Support Unit)
Jeremy Cape – Advisor to Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP
Dr Alan Mendoza – Executive Director, Henry Jackson Society
Nigel Evans
By Nick Allsopp (Vice-President)
[...] UPDATE: reviews of the weekend at TheYoungConservative (Day 1 & Day 2), Iain Dale, ToryBear and Nottingham University CF. [...]