The Conservative Policy Forum (CPF)
CPF provides opportunities for all Conservative Party members - and from time to time interested contributors from outside the party - to learn about and share views on current political events and, even more importantly, to have a real input to policy development.
CPF can trace its history back to the Conservative Political Centre of the early post-war years, which made a very significant contribution to the development of the election-winning policies that delivered thirteen years of radical Conservative Government from 1951-1964. A prime objective of the reorganised and re-invigorated national CPF structure is to ensure that the party in Government continues to think about and develop policies ready for the challenges that Britain will face in 2015, 2020 and beyond.
CPF activities within Spelthorne have two main elements:
CPF Political Suppers
These take place on the third Thursday of every other month and are an absolute bargain at just £11.50. For this, we provide a freshly prepared three course supper and a cash bar (sadly for soft drinks only but attendees are welcome to bring their own wine, beer etc!). After supper we hand over to our guest speaker, who usually talks for around 20 minutes, followed by questions. Speakers are mostly current or aspiring Conservative MP's, but at least once a year we like to invite someone different - from the world of local government, for example, or from like-minded political parties around the world.
Membership of the supper club, which is open to all Conservative Party members, costs just £5 per year (essentially to cover postage and administrative costs).
Discussion Groups
As mentioned above, discussion of future policy is very much a core purpose of CPF. Briefing papers are circulated by the CPF head office. Reports of the resulting local discussions are then fed back, collated and sent onto relevant ministers who provide a response. The Party is genuinely committed to using the input from CPF groups in the policy formation process. Some discussions may be open to contributors who are not current party members.
Dates and further details are available via the events programme accessible elsewhere on this website.
