About Chris Palmer

I am twenty three years old and an active member of the Conservative party who was born and lives in Somerset. Currently I attend the University of Bath in England where I am studying for a BSc in Politics with International Relations (I wanted to do History, but there we go…)

I am a member of The Freedom Association and The Countryside Alliance, and during some of my (copious – so I am told) spare time I write articles for my website and other Conservative political blogs.

My Political Beliefs

I consider myself to actually be a conservative – seemingly a rare species within the Conservative party – and as such I am sceptical of radicalism and rapid change. Some of the things I strongly believe in include Parliamentary democracy and national sovereignty (meaning that I think Britain should leave the European Union), and a strong yet fair criminal justice system and police force coupled with the re-introduction of the death penalty for murder in cases beyond all reasonable doubt, and the abolition of majority jury verdicts.

I want to see a return to selective education, whereby children are streamed into schools that relate to their abilities and skills rather than everyone being shoved through the ‘one size fits all’ comprehensive system, which has so obviously led to a decline in education standards in Britain during the past fifty years. Selection by academic ability is by far the fairest method of selection, unlike the current state of affairs whereby the ‘best’ comprehensive schools unofficially and covertly select by religion, ‘interviews’ and wealth (by means of catchment areas).

I also strongly believe that that the size of the state and government should be dramatically reduced. While state ownership and control of certain industries is not necessarily bad in itself, the British Government currently presides over an enormous bureaucratic regime in which the state employs some 6 million people (roughly 20% of the UK workforce) and spends around 50% of British GDP.

My Political Experience

I have been a member of the Conservative party since March 2002. In December 2005 I was part of the committee that selected Mark Formosa as Conservative Parliamentary candidate for the seat of Taunton Deane. I have previously been the Deputy Chairman of Conservative Future in Taunton.

I became a member of Bath University Conservative Future in September 2006, and helped to select the new Bath Conservative Parliamentary candidate, Fabian Richter, at an open primary in April 2007. Since that time I have helped design and run the Bath Conservative Future website.

In May 2007 I was chosen to run as a local Conservative candidate for the three seat Comeytrowe ward in Taunton where I eventually polled 787 votes – though in the end unfortunately lost out to the Liberal Democrats who, against the national swing, took control of the local Taunton Deane Borough Council.

I enjoy meeting voters and political campaigning. I have been canvassing and leafleting in many constituencies across the West Country including Taunton Deane, Bath, Bristol North West, Somerton and Frome, Wells, Wansdyke and Bridgwater.

Conservative Activities Online

I have been a regular community member, news commenter and contributor to the well known ConservativeHome website since August 2005, in which time they have featured and published a number of my articles on various different issues.

In March 2006 I was one of three co-founders of a successful seven month national campaign to have the Conservative party whip reinstated to Roger Helmer MEP after it was unfairly withdrawn when he robustly challenged alleged corruption in the European Commission. Along the way our campaign gathered the signatures of over one thousand party members including many MPs, Lords, Officials and MEPs. The campaign also received coverage in the Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian and a number of local papers throughout the country.

I have also been lucky enough to become a published author. A number of pieces of my work were printed in the infamous ‘Little Red Book of New Labour Sleaze’ edited by Iain Dale & Guido Fawkes. More recently my work has appeared in the book’s second edition reissue, ‘The Big Red Book of New Labour Sleaze’, which coincided with Tony Blair leaving office and Gordon Brown taking up the reins in 10 Downing Street.

In 2006 my website and blog was rated the 51st best UK Conservative blog on the internet in ‘APCO’s Guide to Political Blogging in the UK’.