Mud runs, teddy bears and bagpipes: The Tories who want to seize the levers of party machinery in the NCC elections
7 min read
Six Conservatives are battling it out in one of the most arcane and private elections in major party politics. The contestants are vying to seize the levers of party machinery on the board of the National Conservative Convention of volunteers. PolHome gives you the definitive guide to who's who.
Wondering what the race is all about? Check out the PolHome long read on the National Conservative Convention elections.
Jason Aldiss BEM is a qualified vet who boasts membership of a number of quirky clubs. He is a Freeman of the City of London (meaning he has the right to drive sheep and cattle over London Bridge; to a silken rope if hanged; to carry a naked sword in public; and to be bundled into a taxi and sent home rather than into a prison cell if found drunk on the streets) and he is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Butchers (don’t even ask). He just finished a term as Grand Provincial Knight for the Knights of St Columba (a Catholic club) and - oxymoron of the century - says: “I remain sane by playing the bagpipes competitively.”
Aldiss currently serves as regional deputy chairman for Yorkshire and wants to boost the profile of the volunteers, improve the communications systems of the party and fight for better support for activists through a professional code of conduct. The qualified vet has lived all round the world and currently works for outsourcing firm Eville & Jones, which offers large scale veterinary services - checking farm animals and meat safety, among other things.
Sir Robert Atkins has had all the jobs: Minister, MP, MEP, councillor, area officer and more. He managed to force an apology out of the The Telegraph in 2010 after the paper falsely accused him of giving himself two months’ extra holiday while working as an MEP. He was knighted in 1997 and in the same year became president of a campaign to join the Lancaster Canal to the rest of the British canal network - a natural fit for the keen boater and owner of a narrow boat called Ratty. The former IBM salesman was educated at Highgate School when it was an independent all-boys school and - like Aldiss - also gets to drive his cattle over London Bridge etc as a Freeman of the City of London.
His daughter Victoria Atkins now serves as MP for Louth and Horncastle and is currently minister for Women and a junior minister in the Home Office. Sir Robert currently serves as the North West Conservatives regional chairman and wants to improve communications (see a theme emerging?) and boost member involvement at party conference, with “proper debates”, motions and ministerial responses.
Sitting candidate Pamela Hall likes to get really dirty while clambering over things. Tough Mudding is a sort of sport where participants get from A to B while soiling themselves with wet earth as much as possible. Challenges include the ‘Kiss of Mud’ (crawling as close to the ground as possible beneath what looks like a sort of barbed wire), the ‘Pitfall’ (dunking into a pool of brown wetness) and the ‘Ladder to Hell’ (a big wooden ladder thing). Hall is training for her first Tough Mudding event in September.
When she isn’t getting as filthy as possible, HR project manager Hall learns to play golf and watches Everton football club (don’t tell most of the other supporters). The Cheshire West and Chester councillor (and shadow executive member) wants to ensure all Tories have social media training and she wants to bring back the National Excellence Awards for good Tories.
“I’m always slightly wary whenever I’m talking teddy bears if it makes me sound like I could be a nutter, which I’m absolutely, definitely not,” Andrew Colborne-Baber insists. The owner of Guildford shop ‘The Bear Garden’ used to be embarrassed to tell people about his profession - but that all changed when he met Tory MP Anne Milton: “I very sheepishly said to her what I did and her reaction was ‘that’s so cool!’” The 25-year-old outlet sells all things teddy from £9 My Little Pony Beanie Buddies to the £1,700 limited edition Kosen Black Bear.
Colborne-Baber is a black belt at Shotokan karate. Enough said.
The successful entrepreneur is the only candidate from the whole of the southern half of the country - which in an election where every part of the UK gets an equal vote could be a winning strategy. Colborne-Baber worked his way up to the South East Conservatives regional chairman role and is pledging more training for volunteers and better social media.
Sitting candidate James Pearson is an officer in the Army Reserves and had his photo taken with Philip Hammond in camo gear while the now-Chancellor wore a flak jacket. He has served in Afghanistan and as a UN peacekeeper in Cyprus. When not on the battlefield, Pearson serves on the dog-eat-dog frontline of local government as a councillor in Cheshire West and Chester, and is an IT project manager in the defence industry after a history working in telecoms. Of course, he is a member of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, while also another Freeman of the City of London.
Pearson is currently the Tory area chairman for Merseyside and wants to improve IT systems in the party (naturally) and improve its use of membership and voter data.
Spencer Pitfield is an outsider candidate with an OBE. The Kent-born activist has a PHD in clarinet music and has toured the world playing in symphony orchestras. He speaks fluent Dutch and some French and Spanish after a time living in on the continent. Pitfield is about to give up his career teaching music in Sheffield to head up a charity for kids with cerebral palsy. He is the only candidate who cannot vote in the election, since he does not hold a position on the NCC and is not an association, area or regional chair. That means he will receive no leaflets from the other candidates and has no access to the voting site where their literature can be downloaded.
Pitfield is a current director of Conservative Workers - a strange mashup between Toryism and trade unionism that praises Thatcher for a string of changes without mentioning her battle with the barons. Pitfield argues the Tory volunteers are the “forgotten and neglected voice” in the party and pledges to restore it.
Wondering what the race is all about? Check out the PolHome long read on the National Conservative Convention elections.
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