Times are tough. We need to keep pushing hard to make sure the Voluntary Party does everything it can, alongside our elected Cllrs, MPs and CCHQ, to make sure that the Party is able to win elections and engage with members. We’ve made a great start on this, but there’s plenty more to do. Making sure we have a new Vice President on the Party Board who will lead from the front and has the energy and enthusiasm to get things done is central to that success – that’s why I’m standing.

I’ve been an Association Chairman, and Area Officer, and a Regional Chairman – now I’m Regional DCP for the North East of England. I’ve also been a Council, Parliamentary, and European election candidate. Why does that matter? It matters because I know the Party, and know what we need to do.

I can see that local parties struggle to be successful because they don’t have enough members who will take tasks on and need support to engage members – that’s why as Regional Chairman I resurrected our Regional Conference, and established member WhatsApp groups for events and campaigning, to start to grown the Party back in the North-East.

Reaching out to new Officers has been standard for me, as I know that when I became a Chairman I had to learn on the job. If I’d had better support and had known who to ask for advice a lot of time would have been saved. That’s why I think we should rollout better support to new Officers, and make sure they have the information and support they need to be a success.

The Parliamentary Boundary Changes meant I had to take a lead in vesting, and had to create new local parties and constitutions, so I have a really good feel for what will work and what won’t on the ground. More recently, I’ve been supporting the re-drafting of the national constitution. But, I’m also aware that rules are only as good as those who enforce them. I’ve not been afraid to ask for Associations to be put in Supported Status when needed, and to take them through that process. I’ve also always stood up for the Voluntary Party and it’s rights with other wings of the Party. I do the right things, even if it’s difficult.

Like a lot of Officers, my time has been wasted for weeks, months, even years sometimes by a very small group of individuals in local parties who just want to cause trouble, but whose behaviour never meets the disciplinary process threshold. I could have got so much more done without this. That’s why I have a Grievance Policy drafted ready to go out to consultation – we need a mechanism to help officers deal with these situations, and if they can’t be resolved managed give them a mechanism to remove constant troublemakers.

One of my big bugbears as an Officer has been Shadow Ministerial visits to your local area that you only read about in the paper the day after – even as  Regional Chairman I often didn’t get to know what was going on ‘til it was too late to use the visit locally. This is a wasted opportunity, and doesn’t properly thank our members. Like plenty of others I’ve fed back for years that this is still an issue. Now I’m hoping to get on the Party Board to keep pushing!

Alongside my political involvement, I work in NHS education, delivering teaching and training. I’m in the job I do because I want to develop people, improve systems, and deliver processes that are efficient. I’m also heavily involved in my local community as a Parish Councillor, where I’ve run projects like setting up a new emergency response group in case of another Storm Arwen, and through things like being a Trustee for The Weardale Museum, where we’ve been overseeing a major rebuilding and refurbishment of the Chapel where the Museum is based.  I understand how important such things are to getting Conservatives embedded at a local level.