Croft Leadership Platform

[Will Frost]

William Croft heads to Bristol, where he joins supporters and grassroots members at a keynote speech he is set to deliver to the local Conservative Association. Arriving at a local event hall, Croft bounds the stairs to the platform set up in the front of the roof, flanked by billboards displaying words reading, "We Want Will." Waving to the crowd, he takes to the podium and begins his speech/

Good evening, Bristol! It is so wonderful to be here with you all tonight, addressing this event put on by the incredible local party association, to present to you my leadership platform.

I recognize that I am making a very big ask to all of you here tonight, and to all of our members across the country. I am asking you to trust me with your vote, and to give me the opportunity to lead the party that we all care so deeply about. It is a lot to ask, it is a big decision for you all to make, and you deserve to have all of the relevant information available to you before you make it.

That is why I have decided to release this platform. The document I am presenting today, which has been provided to all of you, mailed to associations and members across the country, and made available on my campaign website is a comprehensive list of the policies I believe our party should pursue. I am releasing this platform as a commitment to transparency, and to set out my desire to be a leader who is accessible and accountable to every member of our party. I believe you have the right to know how I see our country, how I want to solve the problems it faces, and what sort of Conservative Party I want to lead into the next election. This is your party, we are nothing without our grassroots membership, and you should have the power to know where I stand and hold me to those commitments.

My platform is rooted in three simple values: freedom, justice, and aspiration. I want Britain to be a country where the only thing standing between you and realizing your dreams is your willingness to work for them. I want a country where people are free to act as they choose, to take risks and opportunities, and to advance themselves and their families. I want a state that is streamlined, lean, and knows when to get out of the way of the British people. I want to see education used as a tool to lift up all people, and it made easier to purchase your own home. Critically, I want a Britain that is freed, independent, and fully in control of its laws and destiny.

Now I know that not everyone will agree with all of the positions I have set out in my platform, and I'm OK with that. I don't want everyone to agree with me all of the time, and I encourage debate and disagreement. More than agreeing with me, I care that you know that I am being straight with you. You'll know where I stand, and whether or not you're standing there with me, you know I've taken the position based off my values and convictions. We are the Conservatives, after all, we are the party of open debate and free expression. We encourage dissent, new ideas, and charged debates. Whether or not you agree with everything in this platform, you can know with confidence that these are the beliefs and ideals I hold dear.

And when I say "you," that means all of you, every member of our party, including my opponent. So Ms. Beauvais-Becker, if you're watching tonight, I encourage you to turn to page 2 of my platform where I say unequivocally that under my leadership the Conservative Party will never support Britain adopting the euro and surrendering our currency. I know you pride yourself on being a "straight shooter," so I hope at your next event you'll be sure to share my actual position on the euro.

It was Margaret Thatcher who famously said, "we will tell the people the truth, and let the people be our judge." That, ladies and gentlemen, is what I hope to do today. This platform is my political truth; it is a roadmap of my world view and the ideas that I believe will make Britain the greatest country in the world. I've laid them out in plain terms, giving you all a candid look into my political mind. I want each and every member of our party to know what sort of leader they're getting in me before they cast their vote, and I want every British person to know exactly where I stand on the challenges we as a country face.

This is my vision to change our party to change Britain for the better. I humbly submit to your judgement.

Concluding his remarks, William leaves the stage and heads to the assembled crowd to meet with supporters and answers their questions. He stays an additional hour, meeting everyone in the hall and fielding questions about his views on the party and what needs to be done to win the next election.

Platform can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11pn ... p=sharing

[Barclay A.A. Stanley]

Finally a little bit of fight from William Croft. The energy and enthusiasm that we saw during the Hunting debate had, until now, been missing from what were, by and large, incredibly staged performances, but Croft stops playing with kid gloves in this speech, even calling out his opponent by name. His talking points are still, for lack of a better term, kind of phony-sounding (in any case, they don't rise to the level of Cosette's, who, for all her faults, always sounds genuine) but at least they are substantial.

This speech is what people were looking for from Croft: a little bit of grit, a little bit of fight, but not so much that they worry about him getting into trouble. His platform is fairly inclusive, dealing with various subjects and not missing too many things. One note, of course, is that this is a veering toward the centre after the Conservatives ran a fairly right-wing manifesto under Hague. This goes down with mixed results: the talking heads and intelligentsia of the Conservative, Inc. establishment lap it up and hail it as "just what we need to compete in modern British elections" but the rank-and-file membership are put off.

In summary: this speech is still an exercise in box-ticking but, unlike his previous efforts, this is organized box ticking and he manages to tick all the boxes. Nobody walked away from this excited but they did walk away comfortable and, as the natural front-runner and MP's choice, is all that Croft has ever needed to do.

+1 XP, and a strong result for the leadership contest.