CF objectives and political engagement

Amidst the hustings and policy of the CF National Chairman Candidates, I had a thought that got me thinking... What is the purpose of CF?

Well my first point of interest was obviously the CF constitution. The objectives that are cited there are pretty generic and the usual suspects show up in the objectives section:

3 OBJECTS OF CF

The Objects of CF are:-

3.1.1 to advance the principles and policies of the Party amongst people:-

under the age of 30; and/or studying at institutions of higher and further education within the

Nation;

3.1.2 to recruit members to the Party;

3.1.3 to advise and provide assistance to the Party on all matters where the

particular expertise of CF may be of value;

3.1.4 to represent and promote the interests and profile of Party members under

the age of 30;

3.1.5 to encourage and develop among its Members the formation, organisation

and operation of branches;

3.1.6 to work for the election of Conservative Candidates in local, regional, national

and European elections.

Well that provoked another thought, how, exactly, do we recruit members to the Party? More importantly, how do we keep our current members active and retain membership?

Indeed, why do people join political parties? One would assume that this is because a person feels a connection, either ideologically or otherwise to that party. In which case, they would possess the want and desire to get involved and be an active member of that party.

Therefore an active involvement or perhaps even a committee position or officer's role in the local association would keep the membership satisfied and active. But realistically this is not always enough for younger members. Which is why the vast majority of conservative future branches are based around and built upon social activity and dare I say it? Alcohol.

So how do we recruit members? Is it possible to sustain political interest in young people? The answer is, YES...

I was on a student union trip to our far flung campus in Buxton, prime rich pickings for a High Peak Conservative Future branch at the outset. We were trying to get some two way engagement going with the Union's democracy campaign. Now a strong FE base would normally cause a look of horror to be struck at the hint of the word politics, but, I was surprised at the amount of knowledge and engagement that I witnessed in a bunch of 16 & 17 year olds.

I even got a young lad to talk himself round from voting BNP to voting Tory, by his unknowing hatred for Nick Griffin outweighing his hatred for foreign migrants and immigrants. But by sitting and chatting with them, its easy to show them that their everyday lives are governed by politics.

It is upsetting, however, to learn that there are very few FE institutions left that teach politics.

I leave you with the question, then, is it time to bring politics back to the curriculum, and would those gaining academy status and the subsequent autonomy, include politics as part of their curriculum?