Last Friday David Cameron visited SPEAR, a youth charity in Hammersmith. A slick and media-savvy event, the visit formed the backdrop to his party’s Big Society plan, which, so its manifesto claims, envisions the state taking action to “agitate for, catalyse and galvanise social renewal”.

Yet rather than speaking of Cameron’s nebulous aspirations to ‘mend our broken society’, the event stood to exemplify the strength of community engagement under Labour. Tory Stories has found that SPEAR is in fact a direct beneficiary of Labour’s support for the voluntary sector.

The charity is a project of St Paul’s Centre, a faith-based education group in West London that provides work experience, training and careers advice for those aged 16-24. Founded in 2003, the centre has benefited from a panoply of Third Sector initiatives introduced by Labour: it is funded by Connexions (- launched by the government in 2000 -), the Community Cycling Fund (- introduced by Ken Livingstone in 2003 -) and the Youth Capital Fund (- part of the ‘Youth Matters’ programme described by Tory MP Edward Heathcoat-Armory as an ‘utter waste’ of money -).

SPEAR has also received operational support from Jobcentre Plus (- launched by Labour in 2002 -) as well as ongoing funding from the Urban Partnership Group (- itself funded by the Learning and Skills Council, the London Development Agency and SureStart, all established by the current government -).

This case well underlines the growth of the Third Sector under Labour: full time employment in the sector is up almost 25% on 2000, whilst UK charities’ income over the same period has increased by 40%, thanks in no small part to Labour’s extension of gift aid, the Charities Act and the Hardship Fund. The level of charitable giving in the UK is now the highest in Europe, whilst the proportion of the population doing some voluntary work, having fallen from 51% in 1991 to 48% in 1997, had climbed to 59% by 2007. Small wonder, then, that an investigation by the Economist magazine found that “The evidence supporting the existence of a “broken society” is thin indeed”, and that a recent poll by Third Sector magazine showed that charity professionals overwhelmingly support Labour over the Tories:

Third Sector Magazine, 8/1/10

It is just as well that Hammersmith’s young people can rely on SPEAR. The borough’s Tory council (known as ‘Cameron’s favourite town hall’ and a ‘policy test bed’ for the party) has sold off schools, community centres and youth clubs, cut the youth budget by £500,000 and turned a local park into a private polo field, all whilst lavishing £5 million on rebranding, £35 million on new council offices and further millions on 16% pay rises for top officials. It has also been slammed by local charities for selling off a community building used by no fewer than 22 different voluntary groups. Responding to the protests, the council said that the building was ‘surplus to requirements’.

In any case, Labour will be grateful to Mr Cameron for drawing attention to the government’s achievements in this way. After all, the SPEAR visit was not an isolated case. Over the past week the Tory leader has visited Leeds City Museum (admission free under Labour) and Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital (the first new hospital in the city for over 60 years, representing £545 million of NHS investment), launching his party’s manifesto in Wandsworth, the London borough in which unemployment has fallen most relative to the last recession (from 19,025 in 1992 to 6,641 in 2009).

Where will Cameron go next? There is no shortage of options. A new SureStart centre perhaps?  The Scottish Parliament? The Disability Rights Commission? Keep track of his Labour Achievements Roadshow here.

Tory Stories has obtained details of the Conservative response to the claims that ethnic minority candidates were ‘airbrushed out’ of electoral material. The Observer reported that, on being confronted with the allegations, the party appeared to make a rushed attempt to cover up its dubious electoral practices:

“The Tories said it was “fiction” to suggest that non-white candidates had been left off deliberately and said there was plenty of material showing these candidates. They forwarded different material to the Observer with photographs of the non-white candidates prominently displayed. But it appeared that these images had been superimposed onto the new material so that they were next to their white colleagues. They were not original, group photos.”

The photoshopped image of council candidate Samson Omosule can be seen above, first in its original context, and then superimposed alongside a photo of white colleagues in a leaflet forwarded to the newspaper by the Conservative Party. This raises two questions:

1. Why was the party unable to provide a genuine photo of the candidates together?

2. Had the leaflet been printed or distributed before the Observer made its enquiries?

Questions also remain over whether or not Lord Ashcroft was involved in the production or funding of the ‘airbrushed’ leaflets.

And the significance of this apparent reluctance to promote non-white candidates goes beyond the local campaign. The Conservative candidate for the seat, described as a ‘Young Turk’ close to David Cameron, is a former employee of Lord Ashcroft. Together with Ashcroft he has helped coordinate the party’s overall strategy for ‘target seats’.

Tory Stories has found that it was Ashcroft’s wife, Susan Anstey, who just last year donated £5000 to Dagenham and Rainham Conservatives’ war chest:

Given the donation, and Ashcroft’s proximity to this particular Tory candidate, it might reasonably be asked whether he or his office were involved in the funding and production of the offending leaflets. After all, Ashcroft himself has made it clear that his ‘target seats unit’ is very closely involved in Tory campaigns in constituencies such as Dagenham and Rainham:

“In the run-up to the 2005 Election I “did my own thing” because I did not believe that the Party was targeting its resources effectively and that a ruthless focus on winnable target seats would deliver results.  Things have changed.  I am delighted that David Cameron and Francis Maude have asked me, as Deputy Chairman with responsibility for target seats, to apply this approach right across the Party.  My team will deliver a highly focused campaign working with our candidates from the day they are selected.  There is no room now for any mavericks running solo operations”

So was the omission of photos of ethnic minority candidates from the calendars the product of one such ‘maverick’? Did it slip through the Tory party’s rigorous vetting process? Or was it part of a ‘ruthless focus’ on winning the seat, funded from Ashcroft’s own pocket?

Lord Ashcroft has long been accused of undermining standards in British politics and today’s revelation leaves unanswered questions as to the extent of his involvement in further highly negative electoral practices.

Tory Stories can reveal that the reverse side of the calendars featured a prominent image of David Cameron with the local Conservative parliamentary candidate:

This raises an important question. It has been reported that the Conservative Party now rigorously vets all electoral material; Tory candidates were recently told by the party’s Chief Whip Patrick McLouglin that they “could put nothing in writing to their voters without first getting permission from the party leadership.” Did Cameron, his office, or anyone else in CCHQ see the leaflets before they were cleared for distribution?

This comes just days after Cameron promised that Conservatives would stand up for ethnic minorities, a pledge that stands on increasingly shaky ground; today’s news marks the latest in a string of cases in which his party has been accused of pandering to prejudice and intolerance.

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Andrew Rosindell, Conservative MP for Romford, has denied writing or approving a vitriolic and alarmist anti-immigrant leaflet recently distributed by the party in his constituency. When Left Foot Forward contacted Rosindell’s office to ask about Conservative council candidate Osman Dervish, who is believed to have produced the leaflet, it was told that “Osman Dervish is not a paid member of Andrew Rosindell M.P.’s staff in either Parliament or the constituency.” Today, however, extensive evidence has emerged indicating that Dervish does in fact work for Rosindell.

Dervish has a Parliamentary email address (dervisho@parliament.uk) and is listed in the latest edition of the Register of Interests (last revised on 17th February 2010) as working for the “Office of Andrew Rosindell MP”. He lists nothing under “other relevant gainful occupation or benefit”. In the past, Rosindell has even referred to Dervish in Parliament, thanking him for his work on a local issue as “campaign co-ordinator”.

On Rosindell’s 2008 expenses, published under the Conservatives’ right-to-know initiative, Dervish is named as a member of his staff:

On his Facebook profile, Dervish lists his “Employer” as “UK Parliament” and “House of Commons” and his “Position” as “Political Officer and Head of M.P.’s Action Team to Andrew Rosindell M.P.”:

Rosindell has admitted that he was in the area when the leaflet was delivered but has denied having seen members of his team pushing it through letterboxes. The leaflets featured two pictures of Rosindell, assured voters that “Andrew Rosindell believe[s] that it’s time to say enough is enough” and carried the statement “promoted by Andrew Rosindell MP”. Furthermore, as James Maker notes, “on the very week that this leaflet was making its way into homes across the consistency, during PMQs on February 10th 2010, Rosindell rose to ask the Prime Minister “will the government consider introducing a cap on immigration?”” Rosindell has a track record of outspoken views on asylum and immigration.

Two key questions remain unanswered: was this inflammatory leaflet produced by a member of Rosindell’s office? At what point did Rosindell become aware of the leaflet?

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Meanwhile, in nearby Thurrock, former Conservative councillor Terry Hipsey has still received no reply from CCHQ to his allegation that local Tories discussed a loose electoral pact with the BNP.

“Tory home affairs spokesman and local MP Andrew Rosindell admitted to me he was in the area when it was distributed. The right-winger said he was canvassing but didn’t see the alarmist flyer pushed through letter boxes by members of his team. That’s a shame because it includes two photos of him, including one picture with David Cameron.”

Maguire concludes that: ”it was a disappointment that I needed 10 minutes to coax the statement “I would not have used the words ‘opened the floodgates’” from the MP. Cameron described immigration as a sensitive issue, to be dealt with carefully. Yet in Romford, his party wears hobnailed boots. Apeing the BNP to defeat the BNP is to become the BNP.”

The leaflet bears the statement “promoted by Andrew Rosindell MP”, along with various inflammatory slogans, including: “David Cameron recently announced that immigration would be cut by as much as 75% under a Conservative government”, “Conservatives will scrap Labour’s human rights act” and “our prisons are at breaking point”. Amongst the phrases “opened the floodgates”, “population explosion”, and “mass immigration” it also states that: “Andrew Rosindell believe[s] that it’s time to say enough is enough”.

The full image of the leaflet can be seen on Monday’s Tory Stories report. Rosindell’s website bears the slogan: “Looking after Romford, Fighting for England, Putting Britain First”, whilst he has also tabled “no fewer than 102 questions on asylum and immigration” in the House of Commons and in the past “was a member of an organisation which advocated the voluntary repatriation of ethnic minorities”. In contrast, on the issues of unemployment and jobs he has tabled just 22 questions. Just this Monday he chose to ask “how many foreign nationals given leave to remain in the UK since 1997 have been convicted of a serious crime?”

Meanwhile, Conservative Chairman Eric Pickles remains silent on the allegations leveled by Thurrock’s Cllr Hipsey that CCHQ had been informed of local Conservatives’ discussion of a loose electoral pact with the BNP. Left Foot Forward contacted CCHQ who stonewalled over the allegations, giving ”no specific responses to our questions, just a broad denunciation of the idea of cooperating with the BNP”. If the allegations are untrue, why does Pickles not say so?

The questions continue to mount.

Last Sunday’s Observer called into question the extent to which the Tories have shed their “nasty party” past; today this post sheds new light on allegations made against the Tories on Thurrock Council last year and also calls into question the  extent to which Cameron has managed to change his party.

In March 2009 Cllr Terry Hipsey, leader of the Tory group on Thurrock Council, made a shock defection to Labour, leaving the Tory group leaderless and bringing the two groups neck and neck: 23 Labour Councillors, 23 Conservative Councillors, 2 Independent and 1 BNP.  In order to maintain power the Tories were left relying on the support of the BNP councillor as the two Independents abstained from voting. Not a position that any party would want to find itself in.

It emerged that Cllr Hipsey made the decision to defect following an uncomfortable meeting in which he says certain members of the Tory group discussed the possibility of a loose ‘Tory-BNP electoral pact’ in the lead up to the May 2008 Local Elections. He says the suggested pact involved the Tories not standing candidates in certain wards that were marginal Labour-BNP seats in order to keep Labour out of power. Cllr Hipsey has a copy of the minutes from the meeting in which this unholy alliance was discussed and, though the Tory group have denied its existence, to this day the Tories have yet to provide alternative minutes.

Prior to this incident the Tories had installed the BNP councillor on the general services committee (the most powerful committee on the council) rather than one of the two Independent councillors. Although the Tories were obliged to appoint one of the three councillors who do not belong to either of the main two parties they could have given it to either of the two Independent Councillors. As well as handing a prime committee position to the BNP, the Tory Council made no obvious attempts to prevent the BNP from using a building owned by the council to launch their European Election campaign in May 2009.

Tory Stories caught up with Cllr Hipsey to find out whether he bought his allegations to the attention of CCHQ and what, if any, action was taken by the party at a national level to investigate the claims he had made.  Cllr Hipsey responded as follows:

“Eric Pickles sent an email round when we first got into power warning us that any cooperation with BNP would result in expulsion from the Conservative Party. When I heard about the proposed pact I reported the issue to the South Basildon and East Thurrock Conservative Association Chairperson. She passed my concerns up to Conservative Central Office via email and followed it up with a phone call.  I never heard anything back from Central Office.”

Change can be a powerful message, as we saw with Obama’s campaign, but it needs to be backed up with action.  What action did CCHQ take to investigate Cllr Hipsey’s claims and, if an investigation occurred, what were the findings?