Grant Shapps resigns after taking responsibility for bullying that led to activist's suicide

The International Development Minister, Grant Shapps, has resigned amid claims that he failed to act on allegations of bullying and sexual assault against a youth activist that led to his suicide.

Shapps said that although he could find no written record of a complaint regarding the alleged abuse of 21 year old Elliot Johnson, as party chairman he was taking responsibility and resigning.

His predecessor, Baroness Warsi, wrote to Shapps earlier this year asking for action to be taken against the youth organiser alleged to have been responsible or at least complicit in the abuse, Mark Clarke. Even though Clarke had been struck off the Conservative Party's approved candidate list over complaints about his behaviour, Shapps decided to give him "a second chance" and appointed him as director of the Conservative youth programme that was allegedly responsible for driving Elliot Johnson to take his own life.

Grant Shapps has done the right thing in resigning as his judgement was clearly incredibly flawed. This isn't the first report of bullying or abuse in the Conservative Party but the first one I can recall with such a tragic ending. Clearly the Conservative Party has a problem that they need to address and having one of their own peers leading an investigation into the problem isn't going to solve it.

Tory membership could be as low as 59,000

The Conservative Party's membership may have dropped to as low as 59,000 according to ConservativeHome.  This would put the Conservative Party's membership at less than double UKIP's.

The Sunday Times and the Telegraph have both done some digging into the Conservative Party's returns to the Electoral Commission and found that only about 3 in 5 accounting units (groups of branches in the Conservative Party's organisational structure) filed returns and of those only about a quarter returned membership figures.

If the Conservative Party's membership has dropped that low (from over a quarter of a million when David Cameron took over as leader 8 years ago) then it's frankly astounding.  It would mean that their councillors made up 15% of their whole membership and that doesn't include parish councillors.  They probably have 4 or 5 times as many parish councillors as they do for the councils above so even allowing for perhaps a quarter of them being double jobbing councillors, as much as 60% of their membership could be made up of their councillors.

Even if the Conservative Party's membership was as high as 100,000 - which appears to be a psychological barrier for the membership - then Conservative councillors could still make up as much as 35% of their total membership.

The youth wing of the Tories, Conservative Future, is struggling to keep and motivate members whilst previously active members are leaving in droves either for UKIP or just turning their backs on politics altogether.  Even with the most optimistic estimate of 100,000 members, the Conservative Party must be completely devoid of activists.

Building tangible foundations for Young Independence

I joined Ukip deciphering that it’s more than just a political movement, it’s a social movement. The evidence is clear when you walk into a pub and notice the pub landlord has tossed a cascade of Ukip’s ‘Save the Pub’ beer mats around the pub; do you see the same for Labour, Tory – or Lib-Dem – supporters? No, now those activists only exist in a realm isolated from of the average man or woman, although they may pop by at election period. Ukip is different. And I believe this movement has to reach the youth if we really want to establish ourselves in the social fabric, and I think it is vitally important, as we've seen in currently in Young Independence, young supporters make their own interpretations of Ukip policy or values; enhancing the sense of the yellow, purple and striped tied Youth Kipper which I believe is a crucial beneficiary to the concept of the ‘broad church’ of Ukip, which is a good thing.

Many young people feel naturally attached to what the Party stands for, however I worry that they are rummaging for a local Ukip presence, and Young Independence (if they've ever heard of it), when frankly it should be vice versa. I want to build tangible foundations for YI branches to seep new members - and activists, and of course establish more branches, particularly in constituencies where we do possess YI members willing to do their bit for the party. I am a strong believer in YI branch chairmen getting down and dirty for youth support; where do the youth go in your areas; youth clubs; social events; sixth form, college and university debates etc? My personal interaction with these branches would be key, moreover establishing a network between branches is essential; learning from the tactics of one another is what we really need to get YI together – and to be helping one another in terms of campaigning, transport and events. A relationship should also be established with your local Ukip branch in boosting these factors. I shall email, use social networking or meet branch representatives at party events, so we can share information and ideas.

I am a strong believer in transparency; and I will update YI and the rest of Ukip, with what I do as Grassroots Officer in my blogs or emails, as well as taking into light your personal queries or interests. I will contact EVERYONE on the incoming database; no one will be left out.

                

I have begun drafting plans with former YI Interim Chairman Rob Comley, embracing social networking in the process, to gather a bunch of Ukip supporting sixth formers, college students and university students to discuss why they want to leave the European Union, and why they believe in Ukip – before a camera; fruitful content which can be widely distributed. These - and many more - approaches should be taken to reach the social media capacity of other political youth organisations, such as Young Labour and Conservative Future, which are blatantly losing the argument but currently only have meek opposition.

 We must look beyond university as the majority are elsewhere, and that role of 'beyond' should be naturally carried out by the Grassroots Officer. Ukip’s Libertarian image - with a spice of Lady Britannia's common sense - can’t be amplified by merely the Party Leadership, but youth themselves. Similarly, we need more YI members out on the doorstep rather than older activists who struggle to walk up myriads of stairs; I have witnessed this struggle firsthand leafleting around London. Young Independence needs to be a tangible fighting force, not bluntly just on the internet. That includes activists from all over Great Britain gathering for the greater good.

We must imprint ourselves in the social fabric; YI must defeat concrete jungles and tribal voting through youth networks, and therefore Ukip will surely have a beaming, long term future.

Votes much appreciated!

My manifesto - Alexander Balkan – Candidate for Grassroots Officer of Young Independence.

Proposer: Rob Comley. Seconder: Henry Reilly. Assentors: Jack Duffin, Kelly Gravett, Richard Harrington, Laura Howard, James Lynch, Gareth Shanks, Peter Thurston and Ben Walker.
 

Conservative Future scared of UKIP

Political newspaper, London Spin, has published the results of an online poll which says that Conservative Future members see Young Independence as a threat.

London Spin claims to be one of the UK's leading newspapers although I've never heard of it so I'll have to take their word for it.  The poll only had 150 respondents so it falls well short of what would be considered a representative sample and there is no weighting so again, the results need to be treated with some scepticism.

That said, 64% of respondents said they saw UKIP as a threat which is well beyond the margin of error.  The defection of high profile Conservative Future officers Alexandra Swann and Jakob Whiten was a bitter blow for the Tories who are struggling to keep their young supporters so it's hardly surprising.